No bonded labour: Oppn hits out at Karnataka govt
trains from the state which were planned over the next five days. However, it said three trains would depart from Bengaluru for Bihar as planned.
While the Railways has officially not stated how much it has spent so far on these services, the cost for which the government says has been shared on an 85:15 ratio with states, officials indicated that the national transporter has spent around Rs 80 lakh per service.
Since the beginning of the services, Gujarat remained one of the top originating stations, followed by Kerala.
Among the receiving states, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh remained the top states.
Earlier, the railways drew flak from opposition parties for making these services chargeable.
In its guidelines, the railways has said the trains will ply only if they have 90 percent occupancy and the “states should collect the ticket fare”.
BENGALURU: Special trains from Karnataka taking home thousands of migrants stranded by the Coronavirus
lockdown have been cancelled by the BS Yediyurappa government, which says workers are needed for construction activities that have resumed in the state. The BJP government is forcing the migrants to stay, said the Congress, using the term "bonded labour" in its condemnation.
Congress leaders said it is not enough and that the state government is virtually holding migrants captive.
Pointing out that the government's move will force the migrants to stay in the state, when others across the country were going home, Congress's Siddaramaiah tweeted: The decision to go back or to stay back should be with the
labourers & not with the government. Labourers are free to choose health or work. Who will take responsibility if something goes wrong? Are we still practicing bonded labour? For me #Migrantlivesmatter!!
We can't keep them (the migrant labourers) captive. We have to take them into confidence. The government and builders must give them incentives,” senior Congress chief DK Shivakumar said.
As income dried up overnight due to the lockdown, thousands of migrant labourers across the country set off for their home states on foot, arguing that hunger would kill them before Coronavirus did. Last week, the government, criticized over the state of the migrants, allowed special trains to take them home.
Accusing the BJP government in Karnataka of “medieval barbarism” and treating migrants as worse than “bonded labourers”, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also hit out at the state's decision.
“This is worse than treating them as bonded labour. Does the Indian constitution exist? Are there any laws in the country? This BJP state government is throwing us back to medieval barbarism. This will be stoutly resisted, Yechury said in a tweet. Responding to Congress attacks, the Karnataka BJP said the workers could be sent back if they wished. “Whoever is interested is staying here. If they are not interested, they will be sent back. If there is a demand, definitely we will request the chief minister,” said former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar.