Facilitated return of thousands of stranded people, says Bengal govt

The West Bengal government on Saturday said it had brought back around 6,000 residents stranded outside the state and ensured the safe return of people of other states stuck here due to the lockdown, virtually refuting the claims of non-cooperation made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The state government is doing its best to ensure that migrant labourers -- those stranded in Bengal and also the state's people stuck outside -- return home, West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay said.

"We have brought back 6,000 people stranded in other states so far. Ten trains carrying migrant labourers would reach West Bengal on Sunday. We have also arranged for special trains to bring back pilgrims stranded in other states," he said. The state government has also taken steps to bring back people stranded in other countries through special flights in coordination with the Centre, the senior official said.

"We have also arranged to send back labourers stuck in West Bengal to their home states," Bandopadhyay said. His statement came in the backdrop of Shah's letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging that the state is not allowing trains with migrant workers to reach the state and termed it an "injustice" to these workers.

The state home secretary declined to comment on Shah's letter to the chief minister. "We have contacted the governments of Telangana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, to bring back stranded people. There are also patients who have gone to Vellore. We are hopeful that the issue of bringing back these people in trains will be finalized soon," Bandopadhyay said.

Pilgrims stuck in Vrindavan, Varanasi and Mathura would return to Bengal in trains very soon, he said. "We have used 1,000 government and private buses for transportation of migrants labourers to our neighbouring states. They were trying to reach their state by walking. We have ferried them to designated points where officials of those states are taking care of them," he said.

The home secretary said the number of people who have left West Bengal in small trucks and cars is 18,841 while 1,172 people have started for their home states in buses. A total of 5,475 people have come back from other states in small cars while around 700 people returned by bus, he said.

Meanwhile, to endorse Bandopadhyay's claim, the IT cell of the ruling Trinamool Congress released three letters written by chief secretary Rajiva Sinha and an additional chief secretary to the governments of Rajasthan, Karnataka and Kerala in the first week of May, regarding bringing back stranded people of the state. The railways have, however, refuted the state's claims on the number of special trains and their scheduled journey. "Indian Railways has so far run more than 300 trains mainly for states like UP, Bihar, Odisha, MP, etc. But for WB till today morning we had received approval for only 2 Shramik Special trains, 1 from Ajmer Sharif & other from Ernakulam.

"After the request of Home Minister today afternoon West Bengal has approved two trains from Punjab, two from Tamil Nadu, three from Karnataka and one from Telangana, which are being arranged," the rail ministry tweeted at 8:47 pm on Saturday.