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The Railways Ministry contested Saturday night the ruling Bengal party, Trinamool Congress, that the state had arranged for eight trains to bring back migrants from four other states that are scheduled to arrive in Bengal in The next three days.
The Trinamool Congress and state government made these claims after the union’s interior minister, Amit Shah, wrote to Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, accusing the state of not supporting the Center to allow migrant workers Bengal stranded in other states reach Bengal.
“Amit Shah’s letter is full of blatant lies. Two trains have already arrived and eight more are expected to arrive in Bengal in the next three days. Overall, 80,000 people have already been brought back using various forms of transportation,” TMC national leader and spokesman Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, said Saturday.
TMC also alleged that the union’s interior minister was deliberately spreading lies to play politics during an epidemic.
O’Brien submitted a document showing two trains each from Punjab and Tamil Nadu and three from Karnataka in the draft special train schedule, starting May 8, which will reach seven Bengal districts between 10-12 May, with a total of 12,714 passengers. Another train is slated to arrive in the Malda district on May 10, with 1,721 passengers from Telangana.
However, the railways contested TMC’s claims in a series of three tweets on Saturday night.
“Indian Railways has traveled over 300 trains so far mainly for states like UP, Bihar, Odisha and MP, etc. But for WB until today morning we had received the approval of only 2 special Shramik trains, 1 from Ajmer Sharif and the other from Ernakulam, “the railways said, adding:” After Hon’ble HM’s request, this afternoon WB has approved 2 trains from Punjab, 2 from TN, 3 from Karnataka and 1 from Telangana, which are being organized. “
“However, WB has not approved any Maharashtra trains, while there is a requirement of 16 trains to WB and there are currently 6 pending applications for which WB is still awaiting approval,” the ministry added.
Meanwhile, Congress has added a twist to the ongoing political blame game by supporting the Center’s version. “The prime minister gave eight more trains permission after Shah wrote to the state,” said congressional leader at Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, member of Parliament for Berhampore in West Bengal.
Facing the ire of the BJP, Congress and leftist parties, the Mamata Banerjee TMC said Saturday that the state had a “tiered plan” to bring back stranded migrant workers in other states. The state would also allow stranded residents abroad to return.
A senior government official said the state would not accept large numbers of outsiders at once. “It would not be correct to accept more than 4,000-5,000 people in a single day. We are making plans for each of them depending on their residential address and state of health. We can’t do something that could lead to a sharp increase in the state’s Covid-19 chart, “said a senior state government official, requesting anonymity.
During the past week, 13 of the 23 Bengal districts reported new cases of Covid-19.
At the secretary of state, Interior Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said pilgrims stranded in Haridwar, Dwarka and other religious sites would also be returned in batches. “Many people from the neighboring states of Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand reached the state borders by walking there. We made all the arrangements to send them home safely, ”Bandyopadhyay said.
O’Brien said the state had a seven-stage plan to bring migrants back. “We are doing it in stages. All stranded in other states would be brought back, but in batches. The prime minister announced the shutdown without a hint of planning. We don’t want to bring migrant workers back without having an elaborate plan, “he said.
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