‘Rlys levied ₹50 surcharge on each ticket for migrants’

The state Congress has alleged that the Union railway ministry has levied a surcharge of ₹50 on each ticket for migrants who have been sent back to their home states from Maharashtra on Shramik Special trains. Calling it “insensitive and inhuman”, the Congress has also dared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to prove its claim of the Central government bearing 85% of the train fare for the migrants or apologise.

Maharashtra Congress’s general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant, in a press conference on Monday, presented a letter written by the Railway Board on May 1, which directs the zonal railway offices to levy the surcharge. The letter, signed by the director of passenger marketing, has stated that the superfast charges of ₹30 and additional charges of ₹20 are to be levied on the tickets issued for the Shramik Special trains.

“Levying surcharge on migrants’ tickets over the actual fare is shameful. This is nothing but ‘Corona Tax’ being recovered from the migrants who have been unemployed since the past two months,” Sawant said.

He added that BJP leaders’ claim that the Centre was bearing 85% of the cost of the railway fare for the migrants was false. “I dare Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil to prove the claim

or apologise before the people of the state,” Sawant said.

BJP has, however, claimed that the ruling parties in the state are misguiding the people. Stating that he is not aware of any such surcharge, BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said, “The Railway Board is charging 15% of the actual cost of running special trains from the state. The state government and Congress are misleading people that they have been paying the complete fare. Also, the Congress should tell the people why they have been charging ₹14 per km for the special buses run by the state transport corporation during the lockdown when the actual ticket rate fare is much lesser.”

BJP PLANS ‘MAHARASHTRA BACHAO’ PROTEST The state BJP, as a part of its ‘Maharashtra Bachao’ protest, will give a statement to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to “awaken the state government’’.

On Tuesday, and Wednesday, lakhs of party workers will stand outside their homes with hoardings to protest against the administration’s ineffectual governance during the outbreak, said a communication from the BJP.