"Impossible for trains to run": Goyal slams Maha govt over pending response on 125 trains

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday expressed distress over not receiving a response for the Maharashtra government over the details of migrants who want to travel back from Maharashtra to their home states. This comes after Thackeray had slammed the Centre for not providing enough trains for the migrants to return home in spite of several requests.

The Railway Minister had earlier said that Indian Railways is ready to provide 125 Shramik Special trains to Maharashtra on May 25 and urged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to immediately send the list of passengers and trains, which are lying with the State.

In an official press release, Goyal mentioned that it's been over two hours that the authorities have been waiting for the list of passengers with details of their destination. The release further mentioned that the Maharashtra government will make it impossible for Railways to run if the list is not given on time.

READ: Centre counters Uddhav's 'not enough Shramik trains' claim; demands migrant list in 1 hour

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Thackeray slams Centre on trains

Earlier in the day, Thackeray had slammed the Centre for not providing enough trains for the migrants to return home in spite of several requests. He said that the Centre had not made any arrangements for the migrants while imposing the nation-wide lockdown. Requesting the Centre to allow 30-40 trains for the migrants, he added that the Centre's share of the train ticket cost is yet to be received.

"We never wanted the migrants to leave, but they wanted to return to their native places. The state government had initially requested the Central government to make arrangements for the migrants' return, however, they did not take any step. Once the situation got worse, the action was initiated," Thackeray said. 

The CM added, "Maharashtra government will bear all the expenses of the migrants travelling back to their homes. I am confident that the Centre will pay as they promised. Till now, more than 7 lakh migrants have left Maharashtra. I request the Centre to provide 30-40 Shramik trains for the migrants."

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