Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Sunday slammed Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her claim that the centre bore 85 per cent of the travel cost of the migrant workers.
The entire cost of tickets of migrant workers and labourers travelling to their native states from Maharashtra on special Shramik trains is born by the state government, Deshkmukh said while adding that Sitharaman’s claim is factually incorrect.
The claim made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that centre was bearing 85 per cent of the railway fare of migrants was not factual and surprising, Deshmukh said in an official statement while adding that the Maharashtra government was bearing the same.
The state Home Minister informed that the Maharashtra government has sent 2.92 lakh migrant workers and labourers in 224 trains to their respective states. The Indian Railways administration has not borne the 85 per cent cost in any way, Deshmukh asserted.
However, the labourers who left for their respective homes earlier had to pay full price for their tickets, he added. The Maharashtra government had requested railways to allow migrants to return to their native states free of cost but it was turned down.
Earlier, the Maharashtra government-sanctioned ₹54.75 crores from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) for the travel of migrant workers to their native homes. The amount was transferred to district collectors for booking tickets of the special trains for migrants.
Meanwhile, Deshmukh informed that nine companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) have arrived and have been deployed in various parts of the state including Mumbai and Pune which have been the worst-hit districts in Maharashtra due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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