Countering the claims of Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, the Maharashtra government blamed the Railways for not cooperating with it and failing to meet its expectations. “Keeping aside his arrogance, Goyal should help migrants,” Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said.
The list is given as per the number of trains allotted for the next day. “The state government has consistently given the list of migrants a day in advance. However, asking for the list of migrants for 157 trains at once is unimaginable. The list changes. Suddenly asking for the list of migrants for 125 trains at a short notice of just one hour means that you are not ready to help. This kind of attitude does not suit a minister. Even though Piyush Goyal is from Maharashtra, his stand does not show that he wants to help us,” Thorat slammed Goyal.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has ensured smooth repatriation of all migrant workers stranded due to the sudden lockdown. “ We are following all the rules. However, it is unfortunate that despite Goyal being aware of it and instead of cooperating with the Maharashtra government in repatriation, he is displaying aggression against it on Twitter,” he criticised.
“The Railways is not giving the required number of trains to Maharashtra. We have already submitted a list of 157 trains that we want to its department yesterday. Goyal was asleep and later woke up to tweet. We coordinate with the railway officials posted in Mumbai. But as compared to Gurjrat, we are getting very less number of trains. We asked the Railways to provide the list of trains a week in advance. But they are giving this information to the state government just a day in advance,” Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said.
