Union home minister Amit Shah has written to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee that the Centre was not receiving the “expected support” from her government in helping migrant workers reach home, an allegation the Trinamool Congress (TMC) rubbished as “outright lies”.
The state government is doing “injustice” to Bengali migrant workers stranded across the country by not allowing “Shramik” (worker) trains run by the railways to reach the state, Shah wrote in the letter,according to ministry of home affairs (MHA) officials.
Shah said the Centre had already facilitated the return home of more than 200,000 workers, adding that migrants from West Bengal employed elsewhere too were eager to go back home.
“West Bengal government is not allowing trains with migrants reaching the state. This is injustice with WB migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,”Shah wrote.
States with large migrant populations such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have received the maximum number of workers returning home on Shramik trains.West Bengal, senior officials said, has received only two special trains so far and hasn’t cleared any more trains.
Until Friday, more than 250,000 migrants had been sent home on 251 Shramik trains.
The TMC hit back at Shah.
“Amit Shah’s letter is full of outright lies. Two trains have already reached and eight more are expected to reach Bengal in the coming three days. Overall, 80,000 people have been brought back using various means of transport. Amit Shah just woke up from his 40-day sleep but when one writes a letter still in his sleep, the person gets the facts all wrong,” TMC Rajya Sabha leader and national spokesperson Derek O’Brien said on Saturday.
O’Brien presented a document showing that two trains each from Punjab and Tamil Nadu and three from Karnataka are in the draft schedule of special trains, as of May 8, for reaching seven districts of Bengal between May 10 and 12, carrying 12,714 passengers altogether. Another train is scheduled to arrive in Malda district on May 10, carrying 1,7 21 passengers from Telangana.
“We have a seven-stage plan to bring back the migrants. We are doing it in a staggered manner. We did not announce a lockdown without an iota of planning. We don’t want to bring the migrant workers without a proper plan as we are considering all possible implications to find the best way to do it,” O’Brien said.
Shortly after the TMC leader’s remarks, the railway ministry tweeted: “Indian Railways has so far run more then 300 trains mainly for states like UP, Bihar, Odisha, MP etc. But for WB till today morning we had received approval for only 2 Shramik special trains, 1 from Ajmer Sharif & other from Ernakulam. After request of Hon’ble HM, today afternoon WB has approved 2 trains from Punjab, 2 from TN, 3 from Karnataka & 1 from Telangana, which are being arranged. However, WB has not approved any train from Maharashtra, while there is a requirement of 16 trains to WB and presently 6 requests are pending for which approval is still awaited from WB.”
The issue of migrant workers is the latest flashpoint between the Centre and the West Bengal government amid a row over the state’s efforts to control the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The two sides have clashed over a visit by interministerial central teams (IMCTs) for an assessment of the situation in seven West Bengal districts. While the teams claimed that they didn’t get any support from the state government in assessing measures put in place to control Covid-19, the state government accused the Centre of politicising a public health crisis.
Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla had on Thursday slammed the West Bengal government for a low rate of testing and high rate of mortality – 13.2%, by far the highest for any state. The Centre has also accused the Trinamool Congress government of not allowing cross-border movement of goods trucks to Bangladesh, potentially jeopardising trade commitments made to the neighbour.
Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC youth wing chief Abhishek Banerjee wrote on Twitter that the Union home minister should apologise if he failed to substantiate the charges in his letter with facts. The Congress added another political twist.
“The chief minister has given permission to eight more trains after Shah wrote to the state,” alleged Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is an MP from Berhampore in West Bengal. O’Brien denied the allegation.
Bengal has reported 1,786 Covid-19 positive cases and 99 deaths until Saturday.
