After Congress on Monday, 4 May, stated that they will bear the cost of all rail travel by the stranded migrant workers, the government claimed that it “has not talked about charging anything from migrant workers as 85 percent of the transportation cost is borne by the railways and 15 percent by state governments.”
The Centre has come under a lot of criticism for reportedly charging fare from the migrants, when they had earlier stated that their travel will be free.
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“Based on the request given from states for particular cases, permission was given to run special trains. Be it Government of India or the Railways, we have not talked about charging from workers. Eighty-five percent of the transportation cost is borne by the Railways, while states have to bear 15 percent of the cost,” Joint Secretary at the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal told reporters.
The government also said the process of transporting the stranded migrant labourers was being coordinated by states, “except for one or two states.”
Earlier in the day, BJP minister Subaramanian Swamy had tweeted:
Facing criticism for charging fare for rail tickets from stranded labourers, the railways on Monday also said that the “sending states” should pay for transporting migrant workers on ‘Shramik Special’ trains and it was up to them to decide how to fund this cost, reported IANS.
“As per the guidelines issued, the sending state will pay the consolidated fare to Railways. Sending state may decide to bear this cost or take it from passengers or take it from the receiving state after mutual consultation or may charge it to any fund. It is purely their prerogative,” a Railway spokesperson said in a statement.
A senior railway ministry official, requesting anonymity, said the railways was charging around 15 percent of the costs incurred.
“We are running Shramik Special trains only on request from the state governments. We are charging the states about 15 percent of the costs incurred to run these trains,” he said, adding that the cost includes disinfecting the trains, water bottles, food, masks and trains returning empty under lock and key.
(With inputs from PTI, IANS)
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