Mr Sonu Sood has won accolades for arranging transport for migrant workers who are unable to go back home amid the nationwide lockdown for coronavirus.

Mr Shukla, the BJP MLA from Rewa, shared on Twitter a list of migrants from Rewa and Satna districts of Madhya Pradesh who are stuck in Mumbai.

“Your migrant brothers will be sent to you tomorrow, sir. if I ever come to MP, then offer me Poha.” the actor responded back in Hindi.

@SonuSood जी ये रीवा/सतना मप्र निवासी काफी दिनों से मुम्बई में फंसे हुए हैं और अभी तक वापस नहीं पहुंच पाए हैं। कृपया इनको वापस लाने मे हमारी मदद् करें। @RewaCollector pic.twitter.com/W06ypyxi38

— Rajendra Shukla (@rshuklabjp) June 1, 2020

Mr Shukla later said that 55 of 168 people stuck in Mumbai could return following his request to Mr Sood.

However, social media users trolled Mr Shukla, pointing out that the BJP is in power at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh but its leader had to seek help from a Bollywood actor.

Opposition Congress also targeted Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

“This tweet by Rajendra Shukla exposes the bitter truth of Madhya Pradesh. See Shivraj (Chouhan), former minister and presently BJP MLA from Rewa is unable to trust your government, then he has to take help from actor Sonu Sood for the migrant labourers trapped in Mumbai,” former MP Congress chief Arun Yadav tweeted.

Referring to the state government’s promise to bring back every migrant worker, state Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja said that Mr Shukla had been a minister for many years in the Shivraj Chouhan-led governments, so he knows the “reality” of the chief minister’s announcements.

“That is why he sought the help of actor Sonu Sood, not from Shivraj Chouhan, to bring back the stranded workers in Mumbai,” he said.

Mr Shukla said the Centre and the state government have brought lakhs of migrant workers back, but “Congressmen are hiding in their houses”.

Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said that about six lakh migrants have been brought back by the state government, in which Mr Shukla also played a big role as a member of the BJP task force on the issue.

The post “BITTER TRUTH”: BJP MLA From Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa Rajendra Shukla Asks Sonu Sood To Help Migrants Reach Home first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah has said that migrants workers shall not be charged for any fare for the journey, either by bus or train. The cost of their travel will have to be shared between the sending and receiving states, as per their arrangments, and also to ensure that all migrant workers, who are stranded at various places, shall be provided food by the concerned state and UT.

Karnataka has again suspended incoming transport from neighbouring states to contain the swift spreading coronavirus infection in the state.

This time the list has five states instead of earlier four.

No flights, trains or other vehicles will allowed to come to the state from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the state said today.

The post “SHAMEFUL ACT BY BJP-LED GOVERNMENT” KARNATAKA DISTANCING FROM THEIR OWN PEOPLE first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah has said that migrants workers shall not be charged for any fare for the journey, either by bus or train. The cost of their travel will have to be shared between the sending and receiving states, as per their arrangments, the SC said.

The SC order further directed states to ensure that all migrant workers, who are stranded at various places, shall be provided food by the concerned state and UT.

The point of food distribution must be publicised and notified to the migrants for the period they are waiting for their turn to board a train or a bus, the SC order said.

In the train journey, the originating states will provide meals and water. Rest of the way, the Railways has been directed to provide meals and water. Food and water to also be provided in buses, the apex court has said.

On May 26, the top court had taken cognizance of the miseries of migrant workers and said there have been “inadequacies and certain lapses” by the Centre and the states, and asked them to provide transport, food and shelter immediately free of cost.

Hearing the PIL on the migrant crisis in India, the SC bench on Thursday said that it was concerned with the miseries and difficulty of migrants trying to get to their native place.

“Although there is not doubt that concerned state governments and UTs are taking steps, there are several lapses in the process of registration, transportation, providing food and shelter to the migrants.” the SC said.

The bench added that even after registration, migrants have to wait for their turn to board the train or bus. A large number of migrants are still proceeding by foot. Though, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who was representing the Centre in the hearing said that there are instructions to state governments to facilitate a bus or vehicle if any migrants are seen walking on foot.

“At present looking to the difficulties and miseries of the migrants, we are of the view that certain Interim directions are required,” the SC bench said.

The Supreme Court has directed all states and Union Territories to file a reply on the number of migrants in their territory; how many have been helped; and what arrangements have been made for them.

The next hearing on the matter will be on June 5.

The post No Fares For Migrants: Supreme Court Directs The States To Bear The Cost And To Provide Free Food-Water During Journey first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

That is why it has invoked the Disaster Management Act to give itself extraordinary powers to issue sweeping orders even in areas that normally fall under state governments.

However, in a domain that comes under the Centre even during normal times, the Modi government has abdicated responsibility.

It has left the transport of stranded migrant workers entirely to state governments.

The result is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis: millions of impoverished working-class Indians are walking, cycling, dangerously hitchhiking home, sometimes over distances of more than 1,000 km, often on empty stomachs. More than 170 people have died in accidents on the way.

“Tragedy and shame,” said the front page of the Indian Express, while reporting on the latest accident that left 26 workers dead.

Here are six reasons why responsibility for the worst ever migrant crisis seen in India after the 1947 partition lies squarely with the Modi government.

1. It Announced A Nationwide Lockdown With Just 4 Hours Of Notice

The first coronavirus case was detected in India on January 30. The number of cases kept rising through March. The government had enough time to prepare the country for an impending lockdown. But on March 13, officials maintained the coronavirus epidemic was “not an emergency”.

Five days later, on March 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on national television and urged Indians to observe a self-imposed “janata” or people’s curfew on March 22 to defeat the virus.

The announcement set off an exodus of migrant workers who feared the closure of work in cities would leave them vulnerable. But as they rushed to get back to their villages, the Indian Railways cancelled most trains. On March 21, the entire rail network came to a halt.

At 8 pm on March 24, the prime minister announced a three-week nationwide lockdown – starting midnight. Just 4 hours of notice.

2. The Government Did Little To Help Stranded Workers

Over the next few weeks, stranded workers found themselves running out of food and money. The Modi government issued directives to states, which in turn issued advisories to employers asking them to pay full wages and salaries to workers during the lockdown period. But the government did not account for the fact that many small businesses had limited cash reserves. The government did nothing to support small businesses during this period.

On March 26, the government announced the doubling of food rations for Indians enrolled in the public distribution system. But it completely ignored the fact that most migrant workers do not have ration cards.

Finally, fifty days into the lockdown, the government announced food support for 80 million Indians who are not part of the public distribution system. The actual disbursal of foodgrains, however, will take longer.
Meanwhile, across India, stranded workers continue to report rising levels of hunger.

3. It Restarted Trains But Asked States To Coordinate On Their Own

On April 29, the Modi government announced that it would allow migrant workers to travel home, without explaining why it had put them through five weeks of anguish. Not much had changed on the ground – if anything, the number of coronavirus cases had risen in the interim.

The initial order of the Centre only mentioned transport by buses, but two days later, it followed up to say it would operate special Shramik trains for workers.

However, the Indian Railways was reduced to a transport agency: it would supply a train only when both the origin state and the destination state had jointly made a request.

This essentially meant Indian states, which rarely ever spoke to each other directly, had to open multiple channels of communication. Karnataka, for instance, appointed 13 officers to coordinate with Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and the North Eastern states.

Every state had to contact every other state to finalise how many migrant workers could travel between them.

This proved to be a recipe for disaster. Many states, preferring to keep the number of returning workers limited, went slow on the process. An official in Gujarat, for instance, exasperatedly asked a reporter of Scroll.in to get West Bengal to respond to his requests.

Eventually, This Degenerated Into A Political Slugfest.

This could have been avoided. If the idea was to decentralise decision-making, the Centre could have set up an interstate council that allowed better communication among states.

Now, 61 days into the lockdown, the Modi government has finally announced the creation of a national migrant information system to “facilitate their seamless movement across states”.

Why couldn’t the Centre have done this earlier?
‘I can’t even express my anger’: Confusion reigns as migrant workers in Mumbai struggle to get home

4. It Created A Process That Punishes Workers

The Modi government’s April 29 order said migrant workers would be allowed to travel only after they had been screened and found asymptomatic.

On the ground, this has resulted in a complex system where some states have made it mandatory for migrant workers to secure medical certificates, which they have to pay for, before they can board trains.

The process is punishing: migrant workers must first register with their home states by filling an online form, secure a medical certificate to show they are fit to travel, then report to the local police station to get a travel pass to reach the railway station.

The websites are complex and often don’t work. Many workers lack vital information, do not have smartphones. They are simply walking to railway stations, where the authorities have not even bothered to set up a help desk for them.

Even those who are able to register with their home states have no way of tracking their applications – no way to know when they might get a berth on a train to travel home.

Contrast this with the relative ease with which middle-class Indians are travelling on the special Rajdhani trains. All they need to do is buy tickets online and show up at the station where they are thermally screened as they enter.

Why couldn’t the Modi government create a similar process for working-class Indians who are also paying their way back home?
They walk 30 km. Wait four days for a train. No one’s told them they’re at the wrong station

5. It Extracted Fares From Destitute Workers

The Modi government has claimed it is paying 85% of the train fare for migrant workers. This is simply not true. The Indian Railways is charging full fares on the Shramik trains, despite knowing that many migrant workers are destitute after weeks of going without work.

India has 5.6 crore interstate migrants, according to the 2011 census. The actual number is likely to be much higher: an economics professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University estimated it as 6.5 crore.

Even if all these workers chose to return, the total cost of their train fares would come to around Rs 4,200 crore, researchers working with the Stranded Workers Action Network have calculated.

“To put this number in perspective, the cost of the Statue of Unity in Gujarat is reportedly Rs 3,000 crore,” they wrote in an article. “The PM-Cares as per news reports from early April had Rs 6,500 crore.”

Why couldn’t the government have borne the cost of travel for destitute, working-class migrants?

The BJP’s claims of paying for 85% of the fare and of only Congress states charging workers are untrue

6. It Simply Abandoned Migrants Who Are Walking Home

On Saturday, the Ministry of Railways announced that it had transported 15 lakh migrants in Shramik trains. This looks impressive but is a tiny fraction of the number of migrants wanting to travel. Even a conservative estimate of only a quarter of interstate migrants wanting to go back home would come to 1.4 crore people.

No wonder, millions of Indians are on the road.

Some are walking long distances with their children. Others have hired rickety cycles – one worker wrote an apology note after he was forced to steal one since he did not have money and needed to take his disabled child home. Others are stuffing themselves into container trucks, paying thousands of rupees for standing space.

On the way, there is no certainty over what they would encounter. In the initial weeks, the police were stopping workers and herding them into shelters, forcibly detaining them to prevent them from getting to their villages, presumably to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. This only pushed migrant workers into taking more dangerous routes.

In recent weeks, as the lockdown was extended repeatedly, the police began to overlook migrants travelling on the highways, allowing many to get home after arduous journeys.

But the authorities made no efforts to reduce the pain of the journey: barring sporadic instances of policemen offering biscuits and namkeen to hungry migrants, no highway kitchens were set up to feed them on the way.

No train. No bus. Just a rickety cycle to cover 600 km – on an empty stomach

Now, even this benign neglect is set to change for the worse. The Modi government has once again instructed states to disallow migrants from walking on the highways. This has already resulted in Uttar Pradesh stopping migrants from crossing over into the state. One district has even passed orders prohibiting local residents from extending any help to them.

With the Modi government digging in its heels, refusing to fully accept the scale of human suffering underway, this man-made disaster is unlikely to be over anytime soon.

The post 6 Reasons Why The Modi Government Is Squarely Responsible For India’s Worst Migrant Crisis first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

In an address to the state on Sunday, Mr Thackeray said that while he had demanded 80 migrant special trains per day for the state to ferry migrants home, it was getting only 40.

Mr Goyal took a dig at the Maharashtra CM through a tweet, saying the Railways was ready to send as many trains as required to states, provided they do not “return empty”.

I hope that these trains will not have to leave empty after arriving at the station like it has happened earlier. I would like to assure you that the trains you need will be available,” tweeted Mr Goyal, referring to earlier occasions when migrants did not board special trains.

Mr Thackeray in his address also said that the state had paid Rs 85 crore so far towards these trains.

Mr Goyal tweeted, We are ready to provide 125 Shramik Special trains to Maharashtra. Since you have said that you have a list ready that is why I am requesting you to please provide all information like from where the train will run, the list of passengers according to the trains, their medical certificate and where the train is to go, to the General Manager of Central Railway within the next hour, so that we can plan the time of trains,”.

The union minister followed this up with another tweet, “Sadly, it has been 1.5 hours but Maharashtra Govt. has been unable to give required information about tomorrow’s planned 125 trains to GM of Central Railway. Planning takes time & we do not want train to stand empty at the stations, so it’s impossible to plan without full details.”

“I hope that the Government of Maharashtra will fully cooperate in the efforts made for the benefit of migrant labourers,” he said.

Earlier, Shramik Special trains became a bone of contention between the Centre and states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan with the minister pointing out that these governments were allowing fewer migrant trains to arrive. The state CMs too came out all guns blazing and denied the allegations on Twitter.

So far, 513 trains have terminated in Maharashtra, according to data provided by Railways.

The post Maharashtra Chief Minister vs Railway Minister Over Shramik Trains first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

Crores of migrant labourers, working at factories, construction sites and brick kilns across the country, were left without food, shelter or income when the central government announced a sudden nationwide lockdown in late March – two months after the coronavirus pandemic hit India.

Earlier this month, after lakhs of migrants set out for their village on foot, producing haunting images of pregnant women and exhausted children walking on the country’s highways, the central government agreed to run special trains and allow buses to ferry them.

Speaking to NDTV, Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive of the government’s think tank said while the lockdown had been successful in controlling an even more widespread virus outbreak, the migrant workers’ crisis was handled poorly.

“It is important to understand that migrants issue was a challenge because over the years, we have created laws which have led to a huge amount of informal workers in economy,” he said.

“This was the responsibility of the state governments to ensure that the workers were well taken care of. In a vast country like India, federal government has a limited role. This was a challenge where I think we could have done a much, much better job of taking care of every single worker at the state, local, district level,” Mr Kant said.

Dozens of migrant workers have fallen sick or died on their way home, either from fatigue or in accidents, underscoring the extreme risks the poor have been exposed to under measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The government has responded to criticism of its handling of the migrant worker crisis by promising extra finance to get those stranded back home and provide food rations.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by CineBuster staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The post Migrant Workers Crisis Was Handled Poorly By The Centre And The States Government: NITI Aayog CEO first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

Sixty eight years later, the sentinel seems to be letting its guard down.

Across India, lakhs of migrant workers, their livelihoods devastated by the nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of Covid-19, are walking hundreds of kilometers in an attempt to get back to their home villages. Approximately 120 of them have died in accidents along the way.

While the Centre mounted a massive mission titled “Vande Bharat” to bring back Indians stranded overseas, it has not shown the same zeal in trying to get poor workers home. Instead, the Centre has put the blame for the chaos on the states.

In the post-Emergency era, the Supreme Court developed the idea of public interest litigation into a diverse and potent jurisdiction. The court became activist, intervening in issues that involved the public good. Since then, many Indians have looked up to the Supreme Court not only to check state excesses when it violates rights, but also as a powerful institution that will nudge the government to do the right thing. Environment protection, for example, owes a great debt to the jurisprudence of public interest litigation.

The court has used PILs so much over the decades that it had even led to criticism that it was transgressing constitutional boundaries and involving itself in policy making.

So it has come as no surprise that several activists and lawyers have approached the Supreme Court over the last few weeks, urging it to help the migrant workers. They expected the court to act as the sentinel of the rights of the workers. But it has fared poorly, accepting the government’s submissions almost mechanically, not doing much to alleviate the sufferings of the workers.

If the Supreme Court was looking for models for how it could have acted, there were some that were right under its nose. Last week, two High Courts, through orders that were marked by empathy and concern, held up a mirror to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court and migrant workers
On March 31, when a PIL came up seeking measures to help the migrant workers, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said there were no migrant workers on the roads anymore as governments had ensured that they were being housed and fed. The court accepted this submission and another made by the Centre which said fake news had led to the workers’ exodus.

That these submissions were untrue is borne out by the fact that lakhs have continued to walk home since March 31. Ideally, the court should have suo motu revived the PIL and questioned the Centre on its submissions. This did not happen.

Since then, several PILs have reached the Supreme Court, each facing a similar fate.

If anything, the court seems to have a lack of understanding of the needs of workers. On April 7, responding to submissions that the Centre pay workers their wages, Chief Justice SA Bobde asked the lawyer why the workers need money when they are being fed – failing to acknowledge that people need more than just food to survive.

On April 21, the court again accepted the Centre’s submissions and passed an order asking the same government that had failed to help the workers to consider material produced by the petitioners about the dire situation. The court did not even seek a status report about the measures to be adopted following the petition.

In contrast, the court on May 11 decided to monitor the beautification of a palace garden in Rajasthan.

On May 15, when yet another petition on the workers’ plight came up, the bench observed that it was impossible for courts to monitor or stop the movement of migrant workers across the country. It is for the government to take necessary action in this regard, the bench said.

High Courts and empathy

In the meantime, orders from two High Courts last week acknowledged the seriousness of the migrant worker crisis and were marked by empathy for their plight.

On Friday, the Madras High Court issued an order laced with emotion, something unusual for the courts. In a habeas corpus petition asking the government to produce 400 Tamil workers stuck in Maharashtra, a bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and R Hemalatha said:

“One cannot control his/her tears after seeing the pathetic condition of migrant labourers shown in the media for the past one month. It is nothing but a human tragedy.

It is very unfortunate that those persons were neglected by all the authorities. The heart breaking stories are reported in the print as well as visual media that millions of workers were compelled to start walking to their native States with their little children carrying all their belongings over their head, surviving on the food provided by good Samaritans, as no steps were taken by the Governments to help those migrant workers…it is a pity to see the migrant labourers walking for days together to reach their native places and in the process, some of them had lost their lives due to accidents. The Government authorities of all the States should have extended their human services to those migrant labourers.”

The court asked the state and Central governments 12 questions about the measures taken to help the workers and to file a status report by May 22.

Also on Friday, the Andhra Pradesh High Court cited disturbing news reports to order the state government to take specific measures under seven different heads, including medical, transportation and food.

The court began the order thus: “This court notices that the labour who have left their ancestral homes and villages and moved to the cities for better livelihood to ensure that all of us live in comfort are on the roads today.

If at this stage this court does not react and pass these orders, this court would be failing in its role as a protector and alleviator of suffering.”

In addition, the Karnataka High Court on May 12 directed the governments to decide on paying the transportation cost of workers going back to their villages and towns. It reminded the governments of the huge contribution the workers have made to the country’s development, insisting that the executive should come forward to help them at a time when they have lost their livelihoods.

On the same day, the Gujarat High Court took up the workers’ cause suo motu and sought the response of the governments.

The post As Supreme Court Fails To Protect “Migrant Workers Rights” High Courts Show The Way first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

The former BJP leader, a strong critic of the Narendra Modi government, said civilian authorities, be it from the centre or states, have “failed” migrant workers who have been compelled to walk on roads, with some even dying in the process.

“Our simple demand is that the responsibility be given to the armed forces and paramilitary forces that they should, with all the resources at their command and with whatever civilian resources they can commandeer, send these migrant workers to their homes with dignity,” he said.

Mr Sinha had said he would continue with his dharma till his demands are not met.

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the BJP only cares about the rich and it has left the poor to fend for themselves.

“The government has no strategy because it has no will to help the migrants. The BJP is an anti-poor government. You can call people from abroad but not help the migrants walking on the streets. The ongoing crisis has proved that,” he said.

AAP MLA Dilip Pandey said the government should show some sensitivity towards the migrants.

“The government has capacity to run 20,000 trains daily and ferry 2.3 crore people daily across the country. It should use this capacity to help people,” he said.

The post Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha & AAP Leaders Detained For Protest Over Migrants first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

The post Railways To Take Online Bookings For Passenger Trains From Tomorrow first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.

Eighty-five percent of the transportation cost is borne by the Railways, while states have to bear 15% of the cost,” he told reporters.

Supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, understandably, latched on to Agarwal’s statement to attack opposition parties. Many of them pedalled the notion that migrant workers were not being charged at all, even as many reports showed that those who boarded the special “Shramik Special” trains to ferry the workers to their native states had already paid for their tickets.

Many others, too, took Agarwal’s statement at face value and thought that the raging political row was blown out of proportion.

Soon BJP leaders like B.L. Santosh and Sambit Patra, and some television channels, almost simultaneously, accused Kerala, Maharashtra and Rajasthan – and other states which were governed by opposition parties – of charging rail fare from the migrants.

What is the reality? Why were the migrant labourers being charged for their rail journey if, as Agarwal said, the Centre and the state governments were already footing the bill? What was the 85:15 formula that Agarwal spoke of?

How did the matter come to light?
Lakhs of migrant workers have been stranded without work or proper shelter ever since the nationwide lockdown was imposed. There was a stream of visuals of desperate workers walking several hundred kilometres towards their homes. The Union government was criticised by many for not arranging travel facilities for these informal sector workers before imposing a lockdown.

On May 1, the government finally buckled under pressure from state governments and opposition parties, and allowed the movement of migrant workers by organising special trains for them.

However, the Indian Railways released travel guidelines soon after the decision, inviting further criticism. The guidelines made the following points:

“Railways shall print tickets to the specified destination, as per number of passengers indicated by the originating state and hand them over to the local state government authority. The local state government authority shall handover the tickets to the passengers cleared by them and collect the ticket fare and hand over the total amount to the Railways.”

The railway guidelines.That the Centre was charging the migrant workers, even as it had brought back many stranded tourists from abroad for free, generated much flak. The opposition parties labelled the union government for being “insensitive and inhuman” for making the workers pay despite having known that a majority of them had absolutely no money left after some how sustaining through the lockdown.

The Centre’s explanation: “85:15 formula”

Caught on the back foot, the Centre attempted to do some damage control. This is when Agarwal gave his cryptic clarification.

Did it mean that the Indian Railways ran the “Shramik Special” trains for free? No.

There has been no clarification from the Indian Railways or the Centre ever since Agarwal gave his statement.

What the 85:15 formula meant, as can be inferred from BJP leader Sambit Patra who defended the government on the issue in a television show, is that the notional subsidy that the Indian Railways gave to the “Shramik Special” passengers was 85% of the total cost of travel.

For regular train journeys, the Railways recovers around 53% of the total money spent through sleeper class ticket fares, which means the subsidy given to the passengers is 47% of the total cost involved.

In this context, Patra had an explanation how the Centre bore 85% of the travel costs in the case of Shramik Special trains. Since these special trains for migrant workers were supposed to carry not more than 1,200 passengers, as had been mandated by the Indian Railways guidelines to maintain social distancing norms, and were supposed to come back to their originating stations empty, the subsidy it gave to the passengers was calculated to be around 85%.

This means that the printed fares on the tickets reflected 15% of the total cost incurred by the Railways, and the state governments are supposed to reimburse that amount to the Railways in the due course of time. It doesn’t mean that the Centre is paying 85% of the ticket price

Who pays for the tickets?
As is clear, despite claiming that the Centre is bearing 85% of the unsubsidised ticket costs, it is not shelling out an extra penny from its reserves. It has not committed to paying anything upfront at the moment.

The Centre, has in fact, shifted the burden entirely to the state governments, who had been requesting the Union government to arrange for transportation of migrant workers.

Patra said that the state governments were free to reimburse the Railways by either charging the distressed migrant workers or by digging into their own pockets. He said that UP, Tripura and other BJP-ruled states have already announced that they would foot the bill, and attacked Congress-ruled states for not doing so. However, even this decision by the BJP-ruled states came as an afterthought, a day after the Congress announced that its state units will pay for the migrant workers’ tickets.

By the time the BJP-ruled states announced their decision, non-BJP ruled states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh had already said that they won’t charge the workers and were ready to reimburse the Railways from their state budget.Moreover, contrary to Patra’s claim, the Gujarat government had been charging migrant workers the rail fare.

This #BJP MLA #JagdishPatel from #Ahmedabad is honest. He was with migrant workers and confirmed at 11.15 pm that these workers leaving for #jaunpur in #UP will be “paying” Rs 710 per ticket. Now, Tom he may say it was a slip of tongue! https://t.co/Xu6aLxeMSP

— Deepal.‏‎‎Trivedi (@DeepalTrevedie) May 4, 2020

Is the ticket fare for Shramik Special lower than usual? No.
In fact, most reports suggest that the ticket fares are higher than usual, as the Railways has imposed an additional Rs 50 on the normal sleeper class fares. The additional charge is now being informally called as the “corona surcharge” by many. Speaking on the same show in which Patra was a panelist, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav gave a concrete example.

The socialist leader showed a copy of the ticket for a special train that transported workers from Vasai near Mumbai to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. He said the usual sleeper class fare charged by the Railways is anywhere between Rs 660 to Rs 680. However, the workers were charged Rs 740 for travelling in the special train. Yadav said had “the 85% story was true, as was being told through the day”, then the fare would have been only 15% of Rs 680, the normal fare in this case. “So, a worker would have paid a little over Rs 100. But what is being charged now – Rs 740,” he explained. Similarly, while the normal fare from Kerala to Jharkhand is around Rs 800, the workers were asked to pay Rs 850. In the case of the train that ran from Nashik to Bhopal, workers were charged Rs 350, as against Rs 300 during normal times.

The Centre has passed the buck to the state governments cleverly without giving a straight forward answer to the questions raised. Its supporters on social media and elsewhere used Agarwal’s statement to mislead the public.

The Centre’s indecisiveness and largely passive responses to the sufferings of the migrant workers came to the fore even after it allowed rail and bus travel for them.

Even as the Railways organised the first lot of special trains, the union home secretary Ajay Bhalla, on May 3, wrote to chief secretaries of all states that only those workers who are stranded somewhere between their workplaces and home will be allowed to board the special trains, creating further confusion.

What will those workers who abided by the lockdown measures but have been driven to abject penury in the last few days do? All of them have expressed their wish to be taken back to their villages.

Does the Modi government have a plan for them?

The Modi government’s attempt to hoodwink the Indian public on the issue of rail fare reflects a similar inattentiveness, if not indifference.

The post The Modi Government’s Attempt To Hoodwink The Indian Public On The Issue Of Rail Fare “Paying for Migrant Workers” first appeared on Latest News, Breaking News, National News, World News, India News, Bollywood News, Business News, Politics News, Sports News, Entertainment News - CineBuster.