Refuting Home Minister Amit Shah’s allegation that she dubbed Shramik Special trains as “Corona Express”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that she never used the phrase herself and it was the people who coined it.
Without directly mentioning Shah, the Chief Minister took a swipe at him questioning BJP's actions to help the migrants.
“I have never said corona express. I said public were saying such things . BJP claims to be very concerned about migrant workers. But what sympathetic step have they taken for them?,” said Banerjee.
Alleging that the lockdown was announced in an “unplanned” way, the Chief Minister said that before enforcing the lockdown if Shramik Special trains were ran continuously for three days then migrant workers would not have to suffer in other states for three months during the lockdown.
She also said that migrant workers suffered in places like Chennai, Delhi and Surat where they were even baton charged by police.
“Instead of increasing frequency of trains, they sometimes sent 2000 people, sometimes 2500 people in one train where not more than 1200 were supposed to be sent in one train,” said Banerjee.
She said that till now, 11 lakh migrant workers have returned to Bengal adding that her government asked for 255 trains out of which 222 have arrived.
“Till now 11 lakh migrant workers have arrived in Bengal. We have asked for 255 trains out of which 33 are yet to arrive. Hopefully they will arrive within two to three days carrying 30,000 people,” said Banerjee.
She alleged that the Centre “cheated” workers by backtracking from its initial instruction to employers that they would be paying the salaries to the staff during the lockdown.