Union home minister Amit Shah has said the Bengal government is not allowing trains with migrant workers to reach the state that may further create hardship for the labourers.
In a letter to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Shah said not allowing trains to reach Bengal is 'injustice' to the migrant workers from the state.
Referring to the 'Shramik Special' trains being run by the central government to facilitate transport of migrant workers from different parts of the country to various destinations, the home minister said in the letter that the Centre has facilitated more than two lakh migrant workers to reach home.
Shah said migrant workers from Bengal are also eager to reach home and the central government is also facilitating the train services.
'But we are not getting expected support from the Bengal. The state government of Bengal is not allowing the trains reaching to Bengal. This is injustice with Bengal migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,' Shah wrote.
Some states unwilling to take back migrants: Maha minister
Maharashtra revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat on Saturday expressed concern over the stand taken by several states to not take in migrant workers who were stranded in Maharashtra due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
In a statement, Thorat, who is also the state Congress president, alleged that arbitrary decisions taken by many states regarding migrant workers had worsened the situation.
The Maharashtra government was making every possible attempt to send stranded migrants back to their hometowns, but several states were not willing to take in their own citizens, the minister claimed.
Thorat demanded that the Centre intervene in the matter and give clear guidelines to all states before the situation worsens.
There were nearly 10 lakh migrants in Maharashtra who wished to return to their home states, and so far, 32 trains had been operated from the state, he said.
Thorat further claimed that there were several workers from Bengal and Odisha who wanted to return to their hometowns, but these states were unwilling to take them back.
The Odisha government had decided to accept only those who had tested negative for Covid-19, while the process laid out by the Tamil Nadu government to take back their workers was complicated and time consuming, he said.
'Initially, Uttar Pradesh had also refused to take back its citizens, but now they have revised their decision and we have started sending them back,' he said, claiming that the Gujarat and Karnataka governments had also refused to take in their workers.
The Bihar government, who was cooperating until a few days ago, has now stopped entry to migrants, despite the fact that the Congress was willing to bear travel expenses of these workers, the minister alleged.
Centre is 'lying', planned eight trains to ferry migrants: Trinamul
The Trinamul on Saturday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of 'lying' about the West Bengal government not allowing trains to reach the state, and said they have already planned eight trains to ferry migrants from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Telangana.
The first train will be leaving on Saturday from Hyderabad to Malda, Trinamul said.
Shah on Saturday wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying while the Centre has facilitated more than two lakh migrants to return home, it is not getting expected support from the state.
'The Centre is lying, eight trains ready to ferry passengers to Bengal from different states: It is no right to say CM Mamata Banerjee not allowing migrants to come back.16 migrants died on your watch, will rail minister take responsibility,' asked Trinamul MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
In a zoom meeting with several Trinamul MPs, including Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien, said West Bengal is running 711 camps for migrants in the state and were taking good care of them.
According to the plan so far, 31,224 people will return to West Bengal, 17,211 among them from Hyderabad alone.
'The Centre wants to embarrass our CM and gain politically in the state. They cannot tolerate her and that is why they are targeting us singularly,' Dastidar said.