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Stranded migrant workers not asked to pay train fare: BJP
Hours after the Congress party criticised the Centre for charging fare from migrant workers and offered to buy tickets for them, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Madhya Pradesh government is already paying for the travel and taking pot shots at the grand old party said Rahul Gandhi should tell the Congress-ruled states to follow suit.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said there are clear instructions to state governments to foot the bill for paying the rail fare of migrant workers and the railway ministry has subsidized 85% of the ticket fare for the special trains being run to take these workers home.
Hours after the Congress party criticised the Centre for charging fare from migrant workers and offered to buy tickets for them, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Madhya Pradesh government is already paying for the travel and taking pot shots at the grand old party said Rahul Gandhi should tell the Congress-ruled states to follow suit.
Gandhi who is an MP from Wayanad had criticised the railway ministry for charging stranded migrant labourers ticket fare, even as it donated over Rs 151 crore to the PM-CARES Fund.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also criticised Gandhi and said his state government has already started the work of bringing back the stranded labourers in different states.
“Rahul Gandhi ji, I have attached guidelines of MHA which clearly states that ‘No tickets to be sold at any station’. Railways have subsidized 85% and the state government is to pay 15%. The state governments can pay for the tickets (Madhya Pradesh’s BJP government is paying). Ask Congress state governments to follow suit,” Patra tweeted.
The BJP leader further clarified that for each ‘Shramik Express’, special trains being run for migrants, about 1,200 tickets to the destination are handed over by the Railways to the state government concerned.
