In an address to the state on Sunday, CM Uddhav Thackeray had said that the railway ministry was not sanctioning enough trains for the state
Piyush Goyal
After a number of tweets by Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal till late Sunday night, asking the Maharashtra government to issue a list of the shramik trains it requires, around 2 am the state handed over the details of 46 trains. In an address to the state on Sunday, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had said that the railway ministry was not sanctioning enough trains for the state. Soon after Goyal took to Twitter to address the problem, resulting in a political slugfest.
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Goyal first tweeted saying that he was giving an hour to the state government to submit a list of trains. After that he kept reminding the state through a number of tweets. Finally at 2 am Goyal tweeted, "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!!!."
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut also joined the fight over twitter saying, "The Maharashtra government has given the list of required trains to the railway ministry. The only request to Piyushji is that the train should reach the station where it is supposed to go. A train leaving for Gorakhpur should not reach Odisha."
So far, the railways have cancelled 65 Shramik trains from the state because the government was not prepared for it. "Planning special trains is an elaborate process, which requires time. Unless lists are given in time, the state government will make it impossible for the railways to run trains," a CR official said.
The tweets that Goyal posted on Sunday
Till May 24, the railways have run 557 Shramik special trains and have sent 7.70 lakh migrant workers home.
However, activists alleged that the railways have also handled this poorly. Speaking to mid-day, activist Akshay Mahapdi said, "The railways is a single entity and when a train starts from point A, it is known that it will go to point B. Hence, just because of congestion, trains cannot be diverted at the last minute. Such chaos is not expected. Migrant trains should be run with proper planning. This is not the time to play politics. Both the parties should roll up their sleeves and work harder."
Empty seats on trains
While tickets for all trains scheduled to travel from Mumbai to other states from June 1 have almost been booked, a number of seats are still empty for those heading to the city. "This may be because Mumbai is still in the red zone. Tickets for trains leaving Mumbai have already gone into waiting lists," an official said.
Train to Kerala cancelled
There was high drama at Thane station on Sunday after a train scheduled for Ernakulam in Kerala was cancelled at the last minute after the state refused permission for it. Thane district collector Rajesh J Narvekar had sent a letter to the Central Railway requesting cancellation of the train.
65
No. of Shramik trains cancelled from the state
557
No. of Shramik trains operated from the state till May 24
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