Controversy has deepen that who is bearing the travel costs of migrant labour in Maharashtra. The Maharashtra Congress has claim that the party had borne the travel expenses of nearly 27,865 migrant workers and sent them back to their native places, state party president Balasaheb Thorat claimed on Tuesday. Arrangements are being made to send 24,000 more migrant workers from Maharashtra to their native states, Thorat said.
Amid the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, several migrant workers, in a desperate bid to return to their native places, started walking hundreds of kilometres while some took whatever mode of transport was available to reach home.Congress President Sonia Gandhi last week said her party's state units will bear the cost of rail travel for all needy migrant workers and labourers stranded at their workplaces and seeking to return home.
Thorat said after the announcement, the Maharashtra Congress unit started the process of sending migrants workers back home. The workers were registered at the district level and special trains were made available to take them to their home states. Thorat said state Energy Minister Nitin Raut paid for four special trains, whileMinister of State for Agriculture Vishwajeet Kadam and Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister Sunil Kedar paid for two trains to send migrant workers back to their states. State Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar and Women and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur also paid for sending many workers back home. Apart from this, over 24,000 workers hailing from states like Bihar, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal andKarnataka have also reached out to the party for help, the minister said, adding that arrangements will be made for them and they will be sent back home soon.
