Karnataka Cong offers to pay for Kannadigas’ train fare

Bengaluru, May 4 (IANS) Hours after Congress president Sonia Gandhi said in New Delhi that her party would pay the travel cost of migrant workers to their native places, its Karnataka unit offered to bear the train fare of Kannadigas stranded in other states, an official said here on Monday.

“Our state unit president D.K. Shivakumar has written to Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar that the Congress would pay for the train tickets of Kannadiga migrants stranded in other states, as their welfare is as of equal concern as that of migrants from other states in our state,” party spokesman Ravi Gowda told IANS.

Though the BJP government on Sunday started sending migrants in special trains from Bengaluru in coordination with other states, Shivakumar said thousands of Kannadigas were waiting for special trains to return early to Bengaluru and other cities.

“The state government should arrange special trains for return of Kannadigas as they too are stranded in different states over the last 40 days since the lockdown was enforced on March 25 and extended twice on April 15 and May 4 up to May 17. With no jobs, wages and work, they are desperate to come back at the earliest,” Shivakumar said.

“The plight of Kannadigas in other states is no different from their counterparts in our state as all of them have been left to fend for themselves, with no support from the state governments. Most are in the informal or unorganised sectors as migrant workers, struggling to make a living,” Shivakumar said.

As there was no response from the state government to the pleas of Kannadigas, Gowda said many of them called up Congress leaders, including Shivakumar, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and former Industry Minister R.V. Deshpande, seeking intervention.

Shivakumar personally handed the letter to Bhaskar for making arrangements to get Kannadigas back home. “Most Kannadigas have been living away from families and are desperate to return to their villages or towns,” said Shivakumar in the letter.

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) also donated Rs 1 crore on Sunday to the state-run transport corporation (KSRT) for the cost of providing free bus ride to thousands of local migrants to their native place across the state.

–IANS

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