Uddhav Thackeray vs Piyush Goyal: War of words erupts between Maharashtra CM, Railways minister over Shramik trains

In his address to the state on May 24, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that while he had demanded 80 special trains per day for the state to ferry migrants home, it was getting only 40.

The political slugfest over Shramik Special trains continued overnight as Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Piyush Goyal, the minister of Railways, engaged in a war of words over the issue - with the Shiv Sena chief accusing the Indian Railways of not providing enough trains to the state despite demand.

In an address to the state on May 24, Thackeray said that - while he had demanded 80 migrant special trains per day for the state to ferry migrants home - it was getting only 40.

Goyal took a dig at the Maharashtra chief minister through a tweet, saying the Railways was ready to send as many trains as required to states, provided they do not "return empty".

“I hope that these trains will not have to leave empty after arriving at the station like it has happened earlier. I would like to assure you that the trains you need will be available," tweeted Goyal, referring to earlier occasions when migrants did not board special trains.

Thackeray - in his address - also said that the state had paid Rs 85 crore so far towards these trains.

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Goyal tweeted, “We are ready to provide 125 Shramik Special trains to Maharashtra. Since you have said that you have a list ready that is why I am requesting you to please provide all information like from where the train will run, the list of passengers according to the trains, their medical certificate and where the train is to go, to the General Manager of Central Railway within the next hour, so that we can plan the time of trains”.

The union minister followed this up with another tweet: "Sadly, it has been 1.5 hours but Maharashtra Govt. has been unable to give required information about tomorrow's planned 125 trains to GM of Central Railway. Planning takes time & we do not want train to stand empty at the stations, so it's impossible to plan without full details."

"I hope that the Government of Maharashtra will fully cooperate in the efforts made for the benefit of migrant labourers," he said.

Earlier, Shramik Special trains became a bone of contention between the Centre and states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan with the minister pointing out that these governments were allowing fewer migrant trains to arrive. The state chief ministers too came out all guns blazing and denied the allegations on Twitter.

So far, 513 trains have terminated in Maharashtra, according to data provided by Railways.

In yet another tweet at 2.11 am, Goyal said: “Where is the list for 125 trains from Maharashtra? As of 2 am, received list of only 46 trains of which 5 are to West Bengal and Odisha which cannot operate due to cyclone Amphan. We are notifying only 41 trains for today despite being prepared for 125 !!!”

(With inputs from PTI)

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