Mamata Banerjee on Saturday announced that her government would bear the entire cost of the special trains bringing back migrant workers to Bengal, adding that the Railway Board had been told that none of the migrants should be charged.
The Bengal chief minister tweeted in the afternoon: “Saluting the toil faced by our migrant brethren, I am pleased to announce the decision of GoWB to bear the entire cost of movement for our migrant workers by special trains from other states to West Bengal.”
On Thursday, Mamata had announced that 105 such trains would bring back stranded workers from 16 states till the middle of next month. These are in addition to 10 trains requisitioned earlier.
“No migrant will be charged. Letter to Railway Board attached,” she added on Twitter on Saturday.
The letter, from Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha to Railway Board chairman V.K. Yadav, says “no costs” are to be claimed from the returnees via the Shramik Special trains.
“Instructions may accordingly be issued to the concerned railway officials that no costs may be claimed from those boarding these Shramik Special trains, destined for West Bengal, at the station of origin,” Sinha has written.
The Centre has been trying to shift the blame for the migrant crisis onto Opposition-ruled states, claiming that they were not too willing to welcome back the stranded workers.
Over the past few days, Mamata and her government have been at the receiving end of criticism from BJP leaders such as Union railway minister Piyush Goyal and Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh.
A minister in the Bengal cabinet said Mamata had killed two proverbial birds with one stone with her announcement.
“First, she has exposed the BJP-led Centre, which has — despite tall claims of bearing 85 per cent of the cost and what not — been charging the returnees Rs 600-800 per head for these trains. Second, she has proved how the BJP and its central government have been lying about the state government’s alleged lack of willingness to help Bengal’s stranded workers,” he said.
Later in the day, Bengal home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay told a news conference that the arrangements had been made through bilateral discussions between states and then forwarded to the Railway Board for requisition.
“There will be a train each from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, two from Punjab, three from Andhra Pradesh, five each from Gujarat, Karnataka and Telangana, six each from Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan, seven from Uttar Pradesh, 10 from Tamil Nadu, 18 from Maharashtra and 28 from Kerala,” the home secretary said.
Bandyopadhyay said Bengal had created a database of 17 lakh people — comprising migrant workers, tourists, pilgrims and students — from the state who were stranded elsewhere in India. Of them, 2.92 lakh people had sought transportation to return to Bengal and the state had coordinated with the other states to facilitate it.
“Under any circumstance, those returning on these trains do not have to foot any expenses. It will be entirely borne by the Bengal government,” said the home secretary, adding that “Herculean arrangements” were in place for abiding by the medical and other administrative protocol meant for the returnees.
The BJP, however, questioned the plan.
“When the BJP-led Centre was going to bear 85 per cent of the costs anyway and you (Mamata) are always seen hankering for funds, then what was the point of this?” asked BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha.
The Centre had remained silent on bearing any cost and made the “85 per cent” announcement only after Congress chief Sonia Gandhi declared that her party would cover the expenses of return for all migrant workers.
“This is petty politics. You (Mamata) are merely trying to dramatise and turn the tables. If you have so much money, ask for 1,000 more trains for the next seven days, bring everybody back,” Sinha said.