Congress to Pay Rail Travel Expenses for Migrant Workers Stuck in other States: Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi, May 4, 2020:

Amid widespread criticism of the Indian Railways for not allowing the free travel of migrants stranded amid the lockdown, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has announced that her party will bear the cost of returning the migrants back home.

The Congress chief stated that by making a “humble contribution” the Congress would stand “shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the workers” and added that the Congress units in each state would pay their train fare.

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Chiding the Centre as well as the Railway Ministry for charging money from the workers, Gandhi in a statement said that "what is particularly disturbing is that the Central government and the Rail Ministry are charging them for train tickets in this hour of crisis."

“Post the Partition of 1947, this is the first time India witnessed a tragedy with such a massive human cost as thousands of migrant workers and labourers were forced to walk home several hundred kilometres on foot — without food, without medicines, without money, without transportation, without anything except for the desire to return to their families and loved ones. The very thought of their plight is enough to break our hearts as there was also the outpouring of support from fellow Indians for their inspiring resolve,” Gandhi further said in her statement.

Terming the workers and labourers as the "ambassadors of our nation’s growth", Gandhi questioned why they are not being given a free pass back home. "When our government can recognise its responsibility by arranging free air travel for our citizens stranded abroad, when the government can spend nearly ₹100 crores on transport and food etc. for just one public programme in Gujarat, when the Rail Ministry has the largesse to donate ₹151 crores to the PM’s Corona fund, then why can’t these essential members of our nation’s fabric be given a fraction of the same courtesy, especially free rail travel, at this hour of acute distress", she queried.

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Sonia's son Rahul also took to Twitter to condemn the Railways for an alleged "double standard". Gandhi wrote, "एक तरफ रेलवे दूसरे राज्यों में फँसे मजदूरों से टिकट का भाड़ा वसूल रही है वहीं दूसरी तरफ रेल मंत्रालय पीएम केयर फंड में 151 करोड़ रुपए का चंदा दे रहा है। जरा ये गुत्थी सुलझाइए!",  [On the one hand the Railways are charging money from the migrants stuck in other states; one the other Minister Piyush Goyal has contributed Rs 151 cr as donation to the PM Cares Fund. Please make us understand the rationale behind this]

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