Migrants workers can't go home amid tussle between UP and Maharashtra government

In a huge trouble for stranded migrant workers and labourers in Mumbai who have no money and food, the police have stopped accepting applications from the migrants who want to go to their native places in Uttar Pradesh. This comes amid the tussle between the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra government over several issues. 

According to the media reports, a senior state government official told that the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka have added preconditions stating that the Maharashtra government should quarantine the migrant workers for 14 days and carry out testing for the COVID-19. 

Meanwhile, three states including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have given blanket approval to the Maharashtra government to accept their migrants back. Bihar government, however, changed its stance and said that it will decide on taking back its migrant workers on a case-to-case basis. 

The official further informed that the Maharashtra government since two days has stopped granting passes to migrant workers who want to go to UP as there is no approval from the destination state. 

The tussle between Maharashtra and UP government extends to the question of bearing the railway fare of the migrant workers and labourers. The Maharashtra government has appealed to the railway administration to help the stranded migrants to get to their native places without charging them. 

Earlier, Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Luv Agrawal claimed that the centre will pay 85 per cent of the travel cost of the migrants. The state governments are supposed to pay 15 per cent of the total value of the train fare.

However, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh stated that the claims made by the centre are false and there has been no official announcement regarding the same. With this, the migrants are having to pay for their railway fare amid the lockdown.

As the Maharashtra government was waiting for the approval from West Bengal government to send nearly 24,000 migrant workers on two special trains from Thane to Shalimar station in Howrah, the Mamata Banerjee government refused to take its migrants back without providing any reason. 

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