BJP govts in UP, Gujarat not allowing trains booked by Cong to bring back migrants: Ajay Lallu

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu on Thursday accused the BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat of not giving permission to trains booked by his party for bringing stranded migrant labourers back home.

He said about 10 lakh labourers are stranded in other states because of the coronavirus-forced lockdown.

"The Gujarat Congress had booked 12 trains from Surat for the migrant workers, but the collector there is not giving permission for it. Trains had been booked to bring people back to Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Faizabad, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj and Ballia among others," the state Congress chief said in a statement.

About19,200 labourers are stranded in Surat alone, and the DM there has said that he would allow the trains once the Uttar Pradesh government gives permission. Besides Surat, permission was also not being given to six trains from Valsad and five from Bharuch in Gujarat, he claimed.

"The BJP governments had made the migrants believe that they will be brought back for free. But, the reality is that the BJP and middleman associated with it are realising much more than the fare set for it," Lallu said.

Accusing the BJP governments of indulging in a "political conspiracy" over the issue, he said that earlier too the UP Congress had repeatedly asked the Yogi Adityanath dispensation to provide details of stranded labourers but got no reply.

The state Congress chief claimed that 13 trains booked by the Congress have brought thousands of migrants from Rajasthan to UP's Ballia, Gorakhpur, Fatehpur, Jaunpur, Saharanpur, Gazipur, Kanpur, Lucknow and Sultanpur.

He urged the state government to keep political rivalry aside during this pandemic and "allow the trains reserved by the Congress for helping the migrants" reach home.