Have received 'clearance' from West Bengal for running 8 special trains to ferry stranded people: Railways

The railways on Saturday night said it had received "clearance" from West Bengal for running eight special trains to the state to ferry people stranded outside due to the ongoing lockdown, after day-long war of words between the state and the Centre over the matter.

A senior railway official said three trains from Karnataka, two each from Punjab and Tamil Nadu, and one from Telangana will take stranded people to West Bengal over the next few days.

The official, however, said that no such train departed for West Bengal on Saturday as claimed by the state.

"We have just received the proposal for running eight trains to West Bengal from Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu to ferry stranded people. While we had pending requests from these states to ferry passengers to West Bengal, the clearance from the eastern state was not there. Now, since we have it, we will run the trains," the official said.

Earlier in the day, Union Home minister Amit Shah accused the Mamata Banerjee government of not allowing trains to ferry stranded migrants to their homes, but the state refuted the charge saying around 6,000 people have already returned and 10 more trains carrying stranded labourers will arrive soon.