Acting on Congress interim president Soni Gandhi's announcement to send migrant labourers to their native states free of cost, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Monday said that till now 27,865 people have been sent to their home states.
Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi had on May 4 had said that her party will bear the cost for rail travel of every needy migrant worker and labourer to their respective home towns during the lockdown.
"After the migrant labourers were registered at the district level, the Congress paid the cost of the tickets of these people. Till now 27,865 workers have been sent back to their native states," according to an official statement by the MPCC.
"Energy Minister Nitin Raut has paid for four special trains, Minister Dr Vishwajeet Kadam and mal Husbandry and Dairy Development minister Sunil Kedar paid for two trains to send the migrant workers back to their states. Meanwhile, Relief and Rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar and Women and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur too paid to send several workers back home," the statement read.
It further read, "As many as 3,567 workers were sent to their states by private vehicles from Satara, Ahmednagar, Pune, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Kolhapur, Sangli. The expense for their travel too was borne by Congress. Food, masks and stizers were provided to the workers during their journey."
"Apart from this, over 24,000 workers from other states like Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka have reached out to the Congress for help. Arrangements will be made for them and they will be sent back home soon," it read.
Special Shramik trains have been operated from Nagpur to Muzzafarpur, Nagpur-Lucknow, Wardha to Patna, Pune to Lucknow, Nagpur to Darbhanga, Miraj to Gorakhpur, Chandrapur to Patna, Pune to Bhopal, Ahmednagar to Unnao, Nagpur to Ballia.
( With inputs from ANI )