Published 23:12 IST, May 24th 2020
Sena responds to Goyal's 'migrant list dare', says 'ensure trains reach right destination'
Hitting back at the Centre, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, on Sunday, revealed that the Maharashtra government has sent the required list of trains to the Centre
Hitting back at the Centre, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, on Sunday, revealed that the Maharashtra government has sent the required list of trains to the Centre. Taking a dig at the Centre, he asked Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to ensure 'trains bound to Gorakhpur don't end up at Odisha' - alluding to the recent incident when Railways had to divert the train to avoid congestion. The Centre has accused the state government for the cancellation of 65 trains due to inadequate preparation.
Sena responds to Centre's dare
Goyal demands list of migrants from Maharashtra
Earlier in the day, Goyal tweeted at CM Uddhav Thackeray informing that on Monday, Railways will operate 125 special Shramik trains. Asking Thackeray to share the list of migrants with their relevant details like - originating and destination stations, the number of migrants travelling, medical certificates. Goyal demanded that the list be furnished to the Centre within an hour.
Furthermore, he took a dig at the MVA government stating that 'hopefully migrants won't have to return empty-handed, like before'. He later constantly sent 'reminder tweets' to the state government, demanding the list of migrants and trains. This is in retaliation to Thackeray's claim that the Centre was not providing enough Shramik trains for its 20 lakh registered migrants, who wished to go back home.
Thackeray slams Centre on trains
In a press briefing, Thackeray had slammed the Centre for not providing enough trains for the migrants to return home inspite 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. As of date, Centre has run 520 Shramik trains carrying 7,32,166 migrants from Maharashtra to various states.
"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.
Updated 23:12 IST, May 24th 2020