Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expressed his displeasure over the fare of Rs 305 being charged from each of migrant labourers brought in a special train from Nashik in Maharashtra to Bhopal Saturday.
Both the railway ministry and the state government authorities had skirted the issue when the questions were asked about the fare of Rs 305 including Rs 30 as superfast charges and Rs 20 as surcharge being shelled out by each labourer for the six-coach train.
Some passengers who were initially not allowed to meet the media persons for fear of contracting the virus opened up later and showed the tickets issued to them. Chouhan has instructed the officers not to take fare from any labourer.
The state government has started working on a strategy for rapid movement of more than one lakh labourers of the trapped in other states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa.
A plan has been forwarded to the Ministry of Railways to bring workers through 31 trains. Of these 22 trains have requested to be run from Maharashtra, two each from Gujarat and Goa, one from Delhi and four other states.
Chouhan claimed of improvement in the coronavirus situation in the state. He said 50 patients were reported positive in the state on Sunday and 174 patients have recovered completely.
On Sunday the number of active cases in the state stood at 1,889. Sunday’s review showed the mortality rate in Ujjain to be unusually high and a special team of doctors was dispatched there.
Additional Chief Secretary Health Mohammad Suleman said 2,600 tests are being conducted daily in 14 labs. 23 out of 515 in Indore, six out of 1,029 tests in Bhopal, nine out of 200 tests in Ujjain and four out of 203 tests have been found positive, he added.
IANS