COVID-19 migrant crisis: Sanjay Singh writes to Piyush Goyal about train mismanagement

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party once again launched a scathing attack on the central government over its handling of the migrant crisis with party leader Sanjay Singh writing a letter to Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on the matter.

Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said that FIRs should be lodged against those responsible for the diversion of Shramik Special trains ferrying migrants stranded across the country amid the nationwide lockdown.

“Around 40 trains that lost their way. How can such carelessness take place? Who is responsible for these undue delays? If you can make arrangements for the people stranded abroad to return home safely then you can also ensure that arrangement is made for poor people stuck in different parts of the country to return to their hometowns safely,” the letter read.

Singh asked Goyal to make arrangements of food and water for the migrants and said that officials who are responsible for the delays must be strictly punished. Singh went on to say that an FIR must be lodged against those responsible for the diversion of the trains. According to the government, 196 Special Shramik trains have carried 2,41,169 migrant workers back to their hometowns till May 25. Out of these, 93 trains carried 1.25 lakh migrant workers to various districts of Bihar and 84 trains carried 96,000 migrant workers to UP.

According to official data, Shramik Special trains which were introduced by the Indian Railways to ferry back migrants stranded in different parts of the country have ferried over 44 lakh migrant workers on board 3,276 trains since May 1, so far.