New Delhi: The government has not talked about charging anything from migrant labourers as 85 per cent of the transportation cost is borne by the Railways. The remaining 15 per cent is taken care of by state governments, the Centre said Monday. The statement came after a controversy broke out with some political parties alleging that the national transporter was charging the workers for ferrying them home.
The government also said the process of transporting the stranded migrant labourers was being coordinated by states ‘except for one or two states’.
Asked if the migrant labourers were being charged for being ferried home, Joint Secretary at the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal that the guidelines clearly states that under the infectious disease management programme ‘one should stay where he or she is’.
“Based on the request given from states for particular cases, permission was given to run special trains. Be it government of India or the Railways, we have not talked about charging from workers. Eighty five per cent of the transportation cost is borne by the Railways, while states have to bear 15 per cent of the cost,” Lav Agarwal told reporters.
“Based on the request of the states the process that started, under which limited number of stranded migrant labourers has to be transported for a particular reason, is being coordinated by the state governments, except for one or two states,” Agarwal said.
At the daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation, Agarwal also said that in the last 24 hours, 1,074 COVID-19 patients have recovered, the highest number of recoveries in one day. The recovery rate stands at 27.52 per cent with 11,706 COVID-19 patients cured till now, he said.
Agencies