Railway has subsidised 85 per cent fare for migrant workers: BJP

The BJP said on Monday the railways had subsidised 85 per cent of ticket fare for special trains being run to transport migrant workers and the state government has to pay the remaining 15 per cent, soon after the Congress attacked the central government over the issue.

The state government concerned can also pay for the tickets, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

He was responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the railways for charging poor migrant labourers ticket fare, even as it donated over ₹151 crore to the PM-CARES Fund.

The BJP leader further clarified that for each ‘Shramik Express’, special trains being run for migrants, about 1,200 tickets to the destination are handed by the railways to the state government concerned.State governments are supposed to clear the ticket price and hand over the tickets to workers, he said. Seeking to corner the central government, the Congress on Monday said its state units would bear the cost of rail travel of needy migrant workers and labourers stranded at their workplaces due to the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.

PTI