Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday took on Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal saying his statement that Jharkhand was not giving permissions for running more trains for which migrants stranded outside were suffering was ‘uninformed’ one.
In a series of Tweets, Mr. Soren said, “what it seems, Union Railway Minister is not being fed with correct information by his own department. We have already given no objection certificates for running 110 trains. Around 60,000 migrant workers in 50 trains have already returned home.”
“I request you (Mr. Goyal) to run more and more trains for Jharkhand. Now, only four to six trains are reaching the State every day. This is not sufficient to bring back about 7 lakh Jharkhandi migrant workers. I hope you will give attention on this and help Jharkhandis,” the Chief Minister said.
The statement of Mr. Goyal seems to have not gone down well with Mr. Soren. The Railway Minister had said 1,200 trains were exclusively reserved for transporting migrant workers stranded away from their homes and 300 trains can be run daily.
“But, there are many States like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand where very few NOCs are coming from. On the other hand, around 400 trains have departed for Uttar Pradesh and 200 for Bihar,” he pointed out.
Mr. Goyal further said, “the Jharkhand CM had given a statement that he wants to bring back all migrants. But, he should first give permissions so that trains could be made available.”
According to office of Jharkhand Chief Minister, “Mr. Soren had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and spoken to Home Minister and Railway Minister reiterating numerous times that necessary arrangements be made to bring back migrant workers by trains.”
The first Shramik special train had travelled from Telangana to Jharkhand. As around seven lakh workers registered on the State portal expressing their desire to return, the Jharkhand CMO said it was a herculean task — much bigger in scale and size than Vande Bharat mission — to bring all back home.
In another Tweeter message, Mr. Soren said, “time and again, I have reiterated our commitment to bring home all stranded workers of Jharkhand. On May 12, our Chief Secretary wrote Union Home Secretary, seeking necessary clearances to bring back 319 migrant workers stuck in Andaman and Nicobar Island by two chartered flights.”
‘Awaiting clearances’
“It has been four days and we are still awaiting necessary clearances from Home Ministry to initiate the process. Jharkhand government will bear the costs of the flights to Ranchi, if Home Ministry permits us. We need a humane approach now and be sensitive to those who have faced the worst,” he pointed out.
