Government is 'profiting out of misery of poor Indians': Sitaram Yechury on Shramik Special trains revenue

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday alleged the government was "profiting out of misery of poor Indians" from the Shramik Special trains that were pressed into service to ferry stranded migrant workers home amid the coronavirus crisis.

In a tweet, Yechury tagged reports that Railways earned Rs 429 crore from the migrant special trains and said the "attitude" of the government was "shameful".

"Profiting out of misery of poor Indians is Modinomics where the rich cronies get loan waivers for lakhs of crores. The approach, attitude and antics of this government are utterly shameful and condemnable," he tweeted.

The railways spent Rs 2,142 crore on running Shramik Special trains but earned a revenue of just Rs 429 crore, official data showed.

The data, received through an RTI application filed by activist Ajay Bose, shows that the railways earned Rs 428 crore till June 29, by when most of the 4,615 trains had been run.

Additionally, it earned around Rs 1 crore by running 13 trains in July, the Railways' internal data showed.