Bengaluru: The Government of Karnataka, on Friday, has decided to pay for the migrant workers’ tickets to travel on the Shramik Trains till May 31. This development comes after harsh observations made by the Karnataka High Court, which questioned the state for making poor migrants pay for the tickets to go home.
It can be recalled that the state government has been on the receiving end of harsh criticisms from the public for making the migrant workers, most of whom are poor, pay for tickets to travel home.
In a series of tweets, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced that the state government has considered the plea of the migrant workers who were unable to bear the travel expenses to return home.
Government has considered the plea of migrant workers who were unable to bear the travel expenditure to go back to their home town.
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— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) May 22, 2020
“Government considers migrant workers, who have come from far flung parts of our country, as our own people and it is my firm belief that they too must be supported by the State,” the CM wrote adding that the state government will “bear the cost of travel of migrant workers and stranded persons to their respective States by Shramik Trains up to 31st may, 2020.”
It can be noted that the Central Government, on Thursday, had told the states to bear the burden of the migrants’ ticket costs.
So far, Karnataka has been bearing the ticket costs of its own people who wish to return to the state, while the ticket costs for the outgoing trains were being borne by the migrants themselves, unless the corresponding states bear the fares.
