[Marxistindia] Migrant Workers Forced to Pay Fares for Returning Home

[news from the cpi(m)]

May 2, 2020

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued  
the following statement:

The Home Ministry circular which details the conditions of the third  
phase of lockdown has permitted the movement of trains to take  
migrants back to their homes. However, it is shocking and condemnable  
that once again apart from giving instructions to State Governments,  
the Central Government is refusing to take any financial  
responsibility. Migrant workers boarding trains from various places to  
return home are being forced to pay for their own tickets and also for  
food.  Those who have been asked to board buses are being forced to  
pay exorbitant rates for travel.
It is sheer cruelty to expect workers who have absolutely no earnings  
for the last two months because of the lockdown to pay for their own  
train tickets. Nor can the State Governments bear this financial  
expenditure when they have not received any help whatsoever from the  
Central Government.
It must be recalled that the migrants got stranded through no fault of  
theirs because the Central Government imposed the lockdown with a  
notice of just four hours. The Polit Bureau demands that that Central  
Government should bear the expenses of the entire travel expenses of  
the workers who want to go back to their homes. All arrangements for  
their safe travel within the State must be made by the State  
Government concerned.

For CPI(M) Central Commiteee Office