Migrants’ Woes: Govt Blames Some States For Not Allowing Trains To Pass Through

New Delhi: The Union government has blamed some states for the plight of migrant workers during the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown.

According to Minority Affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, despite the Centre having arranged for adequate number of trains for returnees stranded in different states, the non-cooperative attitude of some states has hurt their cause.

“We have been running Shramik Specials… we want all our brothers and sisters to be back safely in their homes. But some states are not allowing these trains to pass through their territories. See, maximum such trains have been allowed by the Uttar Pradesh government — 386 trains have brought back such labourers. Bihar has allowed 204 trains and Madhya Pradesh 66. But in several other states, such trains are far less — Odisha (46 trains), West Bengal and Chhattisgarh (seven each), Rajasthan (18) and Maharashtra (11) — because of these states’ limited permission. The Opposition-ruled states just don’t want to take these labourers back,” he told IANS.

Allaying fears that industries will suffer when normal activity resumes if all migrant workers return home, Naqvi said: “Such migration is driven by helplessness; whenever all facilities return to life, their work will resume and all of them would return.”