Centre, Maharashtra spar over Shramik Specials ‘going empty’

According to the Railways, based on the demand assessment provided by the Maharashtra government on May 15, 145 trains were planned.

Tensions have escalated between the Centre and Maharashtra government over Shramik Special trains
with railways minister Piyush Goyal calling for better planning and management of demand for the trains, many of which, according to him, are forced to go empty for lack of passengers.

The absence of suitable directives to organise the despatch of Shramik Specials is leading to huge wastage of resources in terms of rolling stocks, crew and a larger number of railway staff deployed
for organising dispatch, the railway ministry have said in a letter to the Department of Revenue, government of Maharashtra.

According to the Railways, based on the demand assessment provided by the Maharashtra government on May 15, 145 trains were planned and arranged to depart from Maharashtra of which 50 were
to depart on May 26. Till 12 noon, 18 trains were planned to start from Mumbai and the rest were to leave by 3 pm.

However, not even half could start their journey as there were no passengers. Goyal took to Twitter to
point out, “These trains are ready since morning. 50 trains were to leave till 3 pm but only 13 have, due to lack of passengers.”