Home Ministry asks states to cooperate with railways over running of trains for migrant workers
New Delhi/IBNS: After facing criticism over its "unplanned lockdown" after several migrant workers were killed on railway tracks days ago, the Union Home Ministry on Monday wrote a letter to all states asking for cooperation with the railways for the running of Shramik Special Trains.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a letter to the states said, ".. Since their movement by buses and 'Shramik' special trains has already been allowed to enable their travel to native places, all State/UT Governments should ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks.."
"Further as requested by the Cabinet Secretary, all State/UT Governments should cooperate with the railways in running of more number of 'Shramik' special trains so that travel of stranded migrant workers is facilitated at a faster rate," said Bhalla.
The letter succeeded a huge faceoff between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal government as the former accused the eastern state of not allowing the Shramik trains for the travel of the migrant workers.
Though West Bengal had rejected Shah's claim, the Indian Railways later said the state government had requested for far lesser trains than the requirements.
Couple of days ago, 16 migrant workers died after they were run over by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad. The incident happened when the workers were taking rest on railway tracks in the middle of their journey to their homes by walking on the tracks.
The Narendra Modi government was also heavily criticised for allegedly charging the ticket prices from the migrant workers for their travels to the home states.
However, the Centre later clarified that it will pay 85 per cent of the ticket prices of migrant workers leaving the rest for the respective states to fill up.
In another letter, Bhalla asked the states to "ensure smooth movement, including inter-state, of all medical professionals, paramedic staff, sanitation personnel and ambulances etc".
"Private clinics and nursing homes be allowed to open without hindrances to facilitate fighting COVID-19 and non-COVID emergencies," Bhalla said.
India is presently in the last week of a massive anti-Covid lockdown which is due to end on May 18.
In a staggered exit from the lockdown, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday announced the resumption of passenger train services on May 12 with 15 pairs of special trains connecting New Delhi with major stations of the country.
Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from 12th May, 2020, initially with 15 pairs of special trains connecting New Delhi with major stations across India. Booking in these trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May.https://t.co/DW9I1sPRx6
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 10, 2020
The online booking for the train services will start at 4 pm on Monday.
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