After Union Home Minister Amit Shah levelled serious allegations that the West Bengal government is not supporting the Centre in resolving the migrant crisis, the Indian Railways has echoed similar sentiments through its official Twitter account.
Indian Railways has so far run more then 300 trains mainly for states like UP, Bihar, Odisha, MP etc. But for WB till today morning we had received approval for only 2 Shramik special trains, 1 from Ajmer Sharif & other from Ernakulam.
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) May 9, 2020
The Indian Railways asserted that while it has run more than 300 Shramik trains to shift the stranded migrant workers in different parts of the country to their respective hometowns, the West Bengal government had till today morning granted approval for only 2 trains, one from each Ajmer and Ernakulam to bring the migrants marooned in these regions back to West Bengal.
The Railways further added that only after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s intervention, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in West Bengal approved an additional 7 Shramik trains- 2 from Punjab, 2 from Tamil Nadu, 3 from Karnataka and 1 from Telangana.
However, WB has not approved any train from Maharashtra, while there is a requirement of 16 trains to WB and presently 6 requests are pending for which approval is still awaited from WB.
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) May 9, 2020
Railways also revealed that West Bengal government has not approved any trains from Maharashtra, the state worst-afflicted by the menace of coronavirus, adding that there are requirements of 16 trains to West Bengal and currently 6 requests are pending for which approval is still awaited from WB.
It is pertinent to note that Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government has been accused of being opaque in its efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus outbreak. However, the latest incident demonstrates that the West Bengal government is not only has a nebulous coronavirus response but it has also displayed a lack of empathy for its own distressed migrant workers who are stuck in other states but are unable to return because of Mamata Banerjee’s refusal to approve Shramik Trains.
HM Amit Shah alleges Mamata Banerjee of stone-walling centre’s efforts to tackle the migrant crisis
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressing disappointment over West Bengal government’s reluctance to extend support to help migrant workers reach home.
In the letter to Mamata Banerjee, Amit Shah has stated that the Centre is not getting the required support from the state government to handle the migrant workers.
According to the reports, the Home Minister has said that the Central government is operating Shramik special trains to facilitate the return of migrant labourers to their native places, but Mamata Banerjee-led state government is not co-operating. Home Minister Shah has also demanded an answer on the Mamata government’s inaction over the migrants’ distress in Bengal.
