Maha CM Uddhav Thackeray requests Centre not to charge railway fare from migrant labourers

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has appealed to the Central government not to charge railway fare from the migrant workers owing to their worsened financial condition amid the COVID-19 crisis that has stripped them of their employment and daily wages. The chief minister took to Twitter to make the appeal. 

The tweet in Hindi roughly translates to: "Migrant labourers and workers are being allowed to go home as the lockdown has been relaxed. Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray has requested the Center to insist the Railways not to charge for tickets from the labourers as their financial condition has deteriorated due to Coronavirus."

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Special trains for tourists, students, migrant labourers

The Ministry of Railways on Friday announced that it will ply special trains to transport tourists, students, migrant labourers through several states easing their struggles and to facilitate their travel towards their native state. The Ministry said it would operate seven special point-to-point trains for their travel. Thereafter, the Railways on Saturday ferried home nearly 10,000 migrants from eight states to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar on 10 special trains.

The trains were planned on the request of these eight states — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

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While most activities are permitted in Orange and Green zones, 'Containment zones' and metropolitan areas like Mumbai (MMR), Pune (PMR) and Malegaon that falls under Red zones have activities still under curbs. However, liquor shops have been allowed to open as a part of the relaxation. The liquor shops will be open in red zones as well but not in containment areas.

Travel in all forms —air, train, metro, inter-state road— are prohibited in all zones, in accordance with instructions from the Centre. Likewise, hospitality units, education institutions, places of worship and large shopping units are also not allowed anywhere.