New Delhi: The Railway Minister Piyush Goyal today admit in the Rajya Sabha that 97 people were died on board the Shramik Specials trains which were run to ferry them during the COVID-19 lockdown.
In a written reply to a question asked by TMC MP Derek O’Brien on Friday, Goyal provided the statistics to the upper house of parliament.
“Based on the data provided by State Police, 97 persons have been reported dead till 09.09.2020 while travelling on board Shramik Special Trains” the minister said.
“The state police have registered unnatural death case under Section 174 of Cr.PC، he added.
In all, 4,621 Shramik Special trains were operated between May 1 and August 31, carrying 6,319,000 passengers to their home states, the ministry said.