Coronavirus lockdown | West Bengal not cooperating, Amit Shah tells Mamata Banerjee

“West Bengal government... is not allowing trains to reach (the State). This is injustice with West Bengal migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,” Mr. Shah said in a letter to Ms. Banerjee.

Migrant workers from West Bengal on the road at Gannavaram, Andhra Pradesh on May 7, 2020.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah sent a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday stating that the State government was not allowing special trains and it was “injustice” to migrant workers stuck there.

The letter said that Central government had facilitated more than 2 lakh migrants to reach home.

“Migrants from West Bengal are also eager to reach home. Central govt is facilitating but we are not getting expected support from W.B. State Government, which is not allowing the trains to reach W.B. This is injustice with W.B. migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,” the letter said.

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Reacting to the letter, Trinamool Congress leader and MP Abhishek Banerjee alleged that the home minister was spreading a “bundle of lies” after staying silent for weeks.

Mr. Banerjee, the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said Mr. Shah was talking about the very people who have been left to fate by the Centre.

“A HM failing to discharge his duties during this crisis speaks after weeks of silence, only to mislead people with bundle of lies! Ironically he’s talking about the very ppl whove been literally left to fate by his own Govt. Mr @AmitShah, prove your fake allegations or apologise (sic),” he tweeted.

 

The Railways is running Shramik Special trains on the request of State governments to help the migrant workers stuck in various parts of the country due to the ongoing lockdown to reach home. The lockdown was imposed first on March 24 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been extended till May 17.

All forms of public transport, including railways, remain suspended during the period.

Earlier, on May 5 and 6, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha highlighting “poor supervision and implementation of crowd control measures by the district authorities” and flagged stopping of essential goods vehicles by the State government to cross over to Bangladesh during the ongoing lockdown.

(With inputs from PTI)