Its Amit Shah's responsibility to give relief to people stuck in different states: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, on Thursday said that he requested to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take steps so that patients, students and migrant workers of West Bengal, who are now stranded in various states, can return home.
Mr Chowdhury also alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal was not keen on getting these people of the state back. The Congress leader said that Mr Shah has assured him that he will talk to the West Bengal chief minister in this regard.
"I have talked to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. It is his responsibility to give relief to the people stuck in different states owing to the lockdown and hold consultations with the respective state governments in this regard," Mr Chowdhury said.
The Congress leader claimed that Mr Shah has told him that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have facilitated the return of 2.5 lakh and 1.5 lakh migrant labourers respectively, while the West Bengal government is not pursuing the return of its people.
"The state government can arrange for quarantine facilities after bringing the migrant labourers and other people back. It can also ask for Corona-negative certificates from the states where they are stranded before allowing them to return," Mr Chowdhury said in a video message from New Delhi.
He said that the stranded people, who also include patients, students and tourists, are facing an arduous situation owing to lack of money and other needs.
The Congress leader said that the state has brought pilgrims and labourers from Rajasthan and Kerala in two trains only, which he claimed is minuscule compared to the large number of people stranded in different states of the country.
Around 2,500 people of the state have been brought in two trains - one from Ajmer in Rajasthan and another from Ernakulam in Kerala till Wednesday.
The Malda district administration arranged for sending home 298 workers from other districts of the state in seven buses on Thursday, official sources said.