Banerjee’s list suggested that three trains would initiate their excursion from New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore Urban on May 16 and arrive at New Coochbehar, Howrah and Malda Town respectively the next day.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal bolted horns on Thursday over the arrival of stranded workers, with the CM reporting 105 trains to bring them home and the BJP pioneer accusing the state legislature of not taking satisfactory measures.
Bringing back vagrant laborers and stranded individuals to Bengal has snowballed into a significant policy driven issue, with the opposition BJP and the Union government rapping the state for not doing what’s necessary and the Trinamool Congress denying it.
“Towards our promise to helping every one of our kin stuck in various parts of the nation and who need to come back to Bengal, I am pleased to report that we have masterminded 105 extra special trains. Over the coming days, these special trains will set out from various states for various destinations across Bengal bringing our kin back home,” Banerjee tweeted on Thursday morning.
At night, Goyal said the West Bengal government was not giving facilities to the migrants to get back and has permitted just seven ‘Shramik Special’ trains.
Despite his intrigue to the state government to permit more ‘Shramik Special’ trains, there has been no response from it, he included.
The decision Trinamool Congress of West Bengal hit back and accused Goyal of being absent during this great crisis.
Prior, the administration had given gesture for 10 trains to encourage the arrival of laborers, patients, tourists and students stranded in different states attributable to the lockdown. Three of these 10 trains have arrived at the state so far.
In her tweet, Banerjee shared a list of 105 trains which would leave from Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Rajasthan among others throughout the following scarcely any weeks.
The list suggested that three trains would begin their excursion from New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore Urban on May 16 and arrive at New Coochbehar, Howrah and Malda Town respectively the next day.
The administration’s drive to ship stranded individuals home in trains would proceed till June 14.
Afterward, in a series of tweets, Goyal said, “After my statement yesterday, the West Bengal government has woken up from its profound sleep. The administration has yet permitted just seven trains for transient workers… The workers of Bengal are a long way from their homes, so I had engaged permit them to run more trains.”
West Bengal needs to run 105 ‘Shramik Special’ trains every day to take stranded migrants back home, yet “there is unverified news that for the following 30 days they have arranged a list of just 105 trains”, he said.
“It is a brutal joke with the vagrant workers of West Bengal that the administration there is not giving them the office to go to their houses,” Goyal said.
The railroad minister said, “So far, the administration of West Bengal has not permitted eight trains to run, according to its declaration last week.”
“This is a trivial endeavor to deceive West Bengal’s vagrant workers, and the administration is fleeing from its responsibility to take the poor laborers home. Uttar Pradesh cleared 400 trains in under 15 days and brought its transient workers home. Instead of showing this sort of cheerful readiness, the West Bengal government is keeping the laborers from getting assistance,” he said.
Goyal asked the West Bengal government to consider the interests of the workers who need to manage the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state should permit the Railways to run increasingly special trains as soon as possible to take stranded migrants home, he said.
The railroad minister’s statement didn’t go down well with the TMC, which named it as “modest politics and an endeavor to score political pats on the head at the hour of crisis”.
“The minister has been everything except absent during this momentous crisis when millions of poor transient workers have been surrendered. They’ve been left to battle for themselves, stuck everywhere throughout the nation hanging tight for some assistance from government to safely come back to their homes and families,” TMC Rajya Sabha party pioneer Derek O’ Brien said.
Pioneer of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, notwithstanding, invited the move by the state government and said it should have made the strides several days sooner.
Last week Union Home Minister Amit Shah had hailed the issue of non-collaboration by the West Bengal government in bringing back stranded laborers.
The Center had also rapped the state government over its treatment of the COVID crisis in the state.