On Friday, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati took to Twitter to express her displeasure over the decision of the Congress Government in Rajasthan to charge migrant workers and demand additional compensation from the Uttar Pradesh Government for facilitating the transport of stranded students, amidst the Coronavirus lockdown.
Mayawati tweeted, “The demand made by the Congress-ruled Rajasthan Government for payment of ₹36.36 lacs for sending students in Kota to their home in Uttar Pradesh, shows their bankruptcy and inhumanity. Two neighbouring States must not indulge in such despicable politics.”
It is notable here that the Congress-led Rajasthan govt had sent a bill of Rs 36 lakh to the UP govt for some buses they had arranged last month. The Rajasthan govt is asking the UP govt to pay Rs 36,36,664/- for 70 buses that they had provided to transport students from Kota to UP last month.
Slamming the Rajasthan Congress, Mayawati alleged that the government earlier charged exorbitant fares from students for sending them home in buses and now playing politics over facilitating the journey of migrants to their hometown. “How far is this appropriate and humane?”, asked the BSP supremo.
https://twitter.com/Mayawati/status/1263674402719203328?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwCongress admits to charging migrants in Rajasthan
Coming as a major embarrassment for Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, who made tall claims of paying for the migrant workers, the Congress-led government in Rajasthan had earlier admitted to charging migrant labourers for the Jaipur-Patna Shramik Special train.
According to a Times Now report, the Ashok Gehlot government has admitted of accepting money from migrants workers for their travel back to their native place. While most state governments had paid for the travel of migrant workers from the state exchequer, Kerala, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra remained the only three states to have charged the migrant workers for their travel back to their native place.