NEW DELHI/PATNA: A war of words broke out on Saturday between Delhi and Bihar governments over payment of rail travel cost of migrant labourers from the state.
Soon after the Central government allowed movement of stranded people between states, the Delhi government facilitated the movement of people from two states — Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. However, payment for the train travel has created a controversy.
Labour minister Gopal Rai said that Delhi government is going to bear the cost of travel because Bihar administration did not respond to their communication regarding the same. "The reality is that the Delhi government wrote a letter to the Bihar government but there was no response from their side. Delhi government has paid to the railways for the travel of 1,200 migrant workers to Bihar," said Rai.
Hitting back at the AAP, Sanjay Kumar Jha, a minister in the Nitish Kumar government, said that on one hand, the Delhi government was taking credit for sending back the migrants on its own cost and on the other hand, it has asked the Nitish Kumar government to reimburse for their travel. The tug of war took another twist after the Leader of Opposition in Bihar, Tejashawi Yadav, came out to defend the Arvind Kejriwal government and thanked the Delhi CM.
Yadav even offered to pay the entire travel cost of trains carrying such migrants from Delhi. "On one hand you ( Delhi government) are taking credit saying you are sending them back on your money & on the other hand you are asking Bihar government to return the money," said Jha.
BJP spokesperson Dr Nikhil Anand also accused both Kejriwal and Yadav of spreading white lies. "It would be better that Tejashawi Yadav becomes the spokesperson of AAP. The Delhi government, led by Arvind Kejriwal has lost all sense of moral decency having spoken a lie of paying the travel costs of migrants," he said.
Meanwhile, migrants from Punjab will leave Delhi early Sunday morning. The state is sending thirteen buses to take around 350 passengers informed the senior official.