Rs 800 was charged for a Rs 630 ticket, say migrant workers who took special trains from Surat to UP

Contrary to claims that migrants were not asked to pay the train fares for traveling on these special trains, the workers were not only made to pay for the tickets, but were also overcharged.

The tickets they gave the migrants were priced at Rs 630, however they said they had to pay up to Rs 800 per ticket. They said that since they had no other option, they paid the money.

The Railways have maintained that in the event that Shramik trains are run to transport migrant workers, it only bills the respective state governments and does not charge any fees to passengers. In effect, Railways only function as carriers and only bill the state government, its customers, and at a highly subsidized cost. And it’s up to state governments to collect money from passengers or further subsidize the remaining amount.

Speaking to News18 at the DDU train station, a migrant, Sonika, said: “The price I paid for the ticket is 800 rupees, even the food served was simply rice.”

Another migrant, Subhash, said he was asked to pay 750 rupees for a ticket that clearly mentioned 630 rupees as the cost of the trip. “We had sent the money in advance, after which, when our number arrived, they took us to the train station from a bus. Before we got to the station, they gave us the tickets on the bus, I think they were intermediaries and not railway officials. ” he said.

The central government agreed to operate special trains to transport migrant workers home after 40 days of closure, but was criticized for charging fees to workers who were already reeling from job losses caused by the closure.

After the head of Congress, Sonia Gandhi, said that the party will bear the cost of the tickets, the Center defended itself and said that the cost was being subsidized and that migrant workers were never asked to pay. The joint secretary of the Union’s ministry of health, Lav Agarwal, claimed that the Center was paying 85% of the cost of the ticket.

But migrants have a different story to tell. “When some of us filled out the forms, our documents were rejected. At least 20 of us in that group were asked to pay 800 rupees. When we asked why, they told us that we must pay this amount to travel.” or else we can get out of line. Those who collect money looked like intermediaries, not railroad officials. They took our cards and money from Aadhaar and then processed our tickets, “said Neeraj Kumar.

Another migrant, Ram Lot Saroj, said: “I come from Sachin Palogaon in Surat and I was forced to pay 750 rupees. The ticket price is 630 rupees, but they told me they would give me the ticket earlier in Tatkaal, so I should pay extra money. We were a group of 27 people, they took our names and Aadhaar cards along with money. ”

On Thursday, the UP unit of Congress had said it will reimburse the fare for migrant tickets charged by the Railways. Led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the party demanded a list of district magistrates for migrants who had traveled back to the state.

However, the head of the UPCC, Ajay Kumar Lallu, alleged that the government does not respond to its requests to provide the details of the migrants.

“According to the instructions of our leader Sonia Gandhi, all the CCPs were ordered to take care of the migrants’ train fare. We have been continuously asking the government for the list of migrants and a written request was also sent. However, two days have passed but the government has not provided details, “he said.