Mumbai News

Migrant labourers gather at Mumbai station to go home – Economic Times

Mumbai: Hundreds of migrant labourers gathered near Bandra station on Wednesday after hearing ‘false news’ that the government was running trains to transport them back to their home states. The crowd, which had gathered for close to two hours, led to fears of the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic, especially as Bandra east is one of the affected zones. The crowd was finally dispersed after the police began a lathi-charge. The issue, however, led to a blame game between the main opposition party, BJP, and the Shiv Sena that runs the government.

Environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray blamed the Centre for the migrant labourers gathering saying, “Right from the day the trains have been stopped, the state had requested that trains be allowed to run for 24 hours more so that migrant labourers could go back home. CM Uddhav Thackeray ji raised this issue in the PM- CM video conference as well, requesting a roadmap for migrant labourers to reach home.”

Maharashtra opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis slammed the Sena for targeting the Centre, claiming that the incident had occurred because the state government was not taking good care of the migrants. “This is a serious situation that has occurred and it has happened because migrants are not being provided proper food and accommodation. We have been repeatedly pointing this out to the state government. The state is trying to escape their responsibility by blaming the Centre,” tweeted Fadnavis.

Meanwhile, home minister Amit Shah spoke to Uddhav Thackeray and expressed concern over the Bandra gathering. Shah stressed that such events weaken India’s fight against the pandemic and administration needs to stay vigilant to avoid such incidents. He also offered his full support to the state government.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/migrant-labourers-gather-at-mumbai-station-to-go-home/articleshow/75148094.cms