Telangana foots migrant workers’ journey bills

Hyderabad, May 5 (IANS) Amid a row over various states making stranded migrant workers pay for train journey to their home states, the Telangana government on Tuesday said it is paying all costs for operating special trains to send the workers to their respective states.

State Minister for Industry, Information Technology and Urban Development K.T. Rama Rao tweeted that the state government is paying all the costs.

“It’s not just acknowledging dignity of labour but also how you treat them with dignity… Telangana CM KCR Garu showing way forward by arranging 40 trains per day for a week to send home the ‘partners in our state development’ — the migrant workers… All costs paid by #Telangana Govt,” he tweeted.

The minister, who is also son of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, tweeted this hours after the second special train left Hyderabad for Bihar with 1,250 migrant workers.

Telangana also has the distinction of operating the first special train for migrant workers in the country. The train with 1,225 workers had left for Jharkhand on May 1. The state government had reportedly paid Rs 5 lakh to railways for running this train.

The Chief Minister on Monday night announced that 40 special trains will be operated from the state every day over the next one week to send migrant workers back to their respective states.

He said the trains will be operated from Tuesday from various stations in Hyderabad, Warangal, Khammam, Ramagundam, Damaracharla and other places to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other states.

The state government has already appointed senior IAS officer Sandeep Sultania and senior IPS officer Jitender as special officers to oversee the travel of migrant workers to their native states.

The government said migrant workers who have registered their names with the police stations would be allowed to travel by the special trains. The details of the travel will be given at the police stations.

The Chief Minister said no migrant labour should feel anxious as the government had made arrangements for their travel to their native destinations. He instructed the police officers concerned to inform the migrant workers about the travel details and coordinate with them.

–IANS

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