Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that the party’s State Congress Committees will bear the ticket expense of the train journey of migrant workers who are being sent back to their homes by various states. In a letter to party workers, the interim party chief said that the party will also take necessary steps in this regard. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that the party’s State Congress Committees will bear the ticket expense of the train journey of migrant workers who are being sent back to their homes by various states. In a letter to party workers, the interim party chief said that the party will also take necessary steps in this regard.
Sonia’s letter comes a day after the railways ordered the states to collect train ticket cost from the migrants. Questioning the central government’s handling of the situation, Gandhi said that it was disturbing that the migrants were being charged for the train tickets in this hour of crisis. The Interim President further criticized the Centre and asked that if the government could recognize its responsibility by arranging free air travel for citizens stranded abroad, then why the migrant workers, couldn’t be “given a fraction of the same courtesy?”
“When our Government can recognize its responsibility by arranging free air travel for our citizens stranded abroad when the Government can spend nearly Rs 100 crores on transport and food etc. for just one public programme in Gujarat, when the rail ministry has the largesse to donate Rs 151 crores to the PM’s Corona fund, then why can’t these essential members of our nation’s fabric be given a fraction of the same courtesy, especially free rail travel, at this hour of acute distress?” the statement added. In an order issued on May 1, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) allowed the movement of migrant workers, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places through special trains.