The Indian Railways has decided to charge for tickets to operate special trains for stranded migrant workers amid COVID-19 lockdown, reported Hindustan Times.
According to the report, “The fare includes the price of regular sleeper class tickets plus superfast charges of Rs 30 and an additional charge of Rs 20.”
This comes after the Centre on Friday gave a green signal to the running of ‘Shramik Special’ trains to move migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places due to lockdown.
The first such service ferrying 1200 passengers was run from Hyderabad to Jharkhand at 4 am on Friday, 1 May.
'Shameful Move,’ Says Opposition
Centre’s decision to charge fare from the migrants has received sharp criticism from the opposition parties including Samajwadi Party and the Congress.
"The news of the BJP government taking money from the poor, helpless labourers going back home by train is very shameful,” SP chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, while speaking to NDTV made a similar point. "We should not be asking migrants to pay for the tickets. They are in any case distressed. If the Centre does not, then the Jharkhand government will look for ways to make this payment but we will certainly not ask the migrants to pay," Soren told NDTV.
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