Bhopal, May 2 (IANS): The first trainload of 347 migrant labourers arrived in the Madhya Pradesh capital from Nashik on Saturday. They were screened before reaching the city and no relatives were allowed to receive them.

The special train was stopped at Misrod 20 km from Bhopal, where they were tested and provided food, and then loaded into buses for their forward journeys to respective districts.

On Friday, thousands of similar migrant groups reached Jharkhand from Telangana and others left for Bhubaneswar from Kochi.

"The long wait for migrant labourers stranded in Nashik in Maharashtra is over. A total of 347 workers reached Bhopal this morning on board a special Bhopal-bound Shramik train which left Nasik at 9.30 p.m. on Friday. They are being sent to their homes in buses," Misrod SDOP Anil Tripathi told IANS.

PRO of Bhopal railway zone I.A. Siddiqui told IANS that these labourers are from 25 districts of Madhya Pradesh.

The labourers were kept in various shelters in Nasik after the lockdown to contain coronavirus came into effect.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had tweeted on Friday evening about the special train being run to bring back the stranded labourers.

"Labourers stranded in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa are like my brothers. They should not worry about anything. We will bring all of them back," Chouhan had tweeted.