Congress to pay fares of migrants moving in special trains: Sonia Gandhi
New Delhi : Sonia Gandhi on Monday made an announcement that the Congress party will bear all the fare charges of migrants who are being moved in special trains amid lockdown. The Central government called the move baseless and claimed that it would "mess up the entire system and create chaos".
"Grand but baseless announcements may help a dejected opposition, but to ensure people get proper help, the government has to ensure systems work with proper processes and full accountability," top sources said.
Earlier Sonia Gandhi attacked the central government over charging fare from the migrants and claimed that when the government can spend more than 100 crores for an event in Gujarat why cannot they send migrants for free.
"When our Government can recognise its responsibility by arranging free air travel for our citizens stranded abroad, when the government can spend nearly Rs 100 crores on transport and food etc. for just one public programme in Gujarat, when the Rail Ministry has the largesse to donate Rs 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," the Congress chief said.
"What the Congress President has said doesn't change much on the ground, because railways is already paying for 85 per cent of the fares. Instead of the party, it would have been better if she would have instructed her state governments to not indulge in politics and pay their share," the sources said.
She claimed that it was because of the government's short notice that most of the people got stuck away from their homes.
"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," she said, declaring that Congress state units would pay the fare for every needy worker and migrant.