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‘Gave Rs 1 cr to railways’: Uttarakhand on migrants made to pay train fare
The government’s information directorate has put details of payment made by the state government to Indian Railways and its communication with the Centre on running special trains to bring back its people stranded on other states.
The Uttarakhand government has dismissed reports that migrants returning to the state in special trains were charged for the tickets. It asserted that Rs 1 crore was paid in advance to the railway ministry.
The government’s information directorate has put details of payment made by the state government to Indian Railways and its communication with the Centre on running special trains to bring back its people stranded on other states.
Meharban Singh Bisht, director general (DG) information, said, “The decision to put all the aforementioned information in public domain in a transparent manner was taken after a section of media had claimed on Tuesday that the state government didn’t pay for the tickets of about 1,200 migrants who returned in a special train from Surat.”
The officer added that the reports were an effort to tarnish the government’s image.
“Such reports were deliberately circulated by the section to malign the government which is tirelessly putting in all efforts to bring all the migrants back to home amid lockdown,” said Bisht.
The DG said that in future also the information department will put all such information in the public domain if any misinformation is circulated against the government.
“What happened was part of a sinister campaign by a section of the media which is against the state government which we will counter effectively in the same manner,” he added.
Earlier today, cabinet minister and government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said the state government had paid in advance to the railways so that “the migrants need not pay for the tickets for special trains.”
Kaushik said, “Our government is fully committed to bring all our migrants stranded in other states in buses or special trains. Till Tuesday, we have received about 2.02 lakh registrations to return to the state. So far we have succeeded in bringing about 63,000 migrants back home while following all the necessary precautions amid the pandemic.”
