Piyush Goyal slams Mamata's arrangement of 105 trains for migrants, says WB needs more

Goyal said while there is a need for 105 trains per day to bring back people into the state of Bengal, Banerjee has limited the trains to 105 in 30 days.

The Union Minister hopes that Bengal opened its arms to the migrants stuck across the country after the announcment of nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

This comes after Mamata Banerjee earlier in the day tweeted that: "Towards our commitment to helping all our people stuck in different parts of the country and who want to return back to Bengal, I am pleased to announce that we have arranged 105 additional special trains."

She informed that these special trains will embark from different states for various destinations across Bengal bringing the people back home.

Replying to the WB CM's tweet, Goyal wrote: "I feel sad that while there is a need for 105 trains/day to bring back migrants to WB, the State is accepting only 105 trains over 30 days. I once again hope for the sake of Bengali brothers & sisters in different parts of the country, that WB will accept them back with open arms."

He also warned that if Bengal doesn't accept these migrants there would be more cases of such people walking hundreds of kilometres to reach homes.

"Many migrants want to return to WB & if State doesn't accept them then we may find more cases of migrants & even children walking for hundreds of kms &resorting to other dangerous means. WB should speed up setting up of adequate arrangements to receive their own migrants," Goyal added.

The Centre had earlier ordered for the commencement of special Shramik trains to ferry the migrants home across the country.

Trains being run by Railways only after concurrence is given both by the State which is sending the passengers and the State which is receiving them.