Notifying only 41 Shramik trains for Maharashtra for now: Piyush Goyal

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal stated that the Indian Railways will notify as 41 Shramik special trains for Maharashtra despite being prepared to run 125 trains.

The minister said that the Maharashtra government has provided a received list of only 46 trains, out of which five are to West Bengal and Odisha, which cannot operate due to cyclone Amphan.

"Where is the list for 125 trains from Maharashtra? As of 2 am, received a list of only 46 trains of which five are to West Bengal and Odisha which cannot operate due to cyclone Amphan. We are notifying only 41 trains for today despite being prepared for 125 !!!" Goyal tweeted.

Earlier, Goyal said that the Maharashtra government has not provided the details of 125 Shramik special trains, which were scheduled to run in the state on Monday, and its list of passengers.

In a series of tweets on Sunday evening, the minister asked Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to provide details but said that the state government did not respond to the request till late night.

"Uddhav Ji, hope you are healthy. Tomorrow we are ready to provide 125 Shramik special train from Maharashtra. You told that you have a list of workers ready. I hope that the Government of Maharashtra will cooperate fully in the efforts made for the benefit of these workers," Goyal tweeted.

"All information, such as where the train will run, the list of passengers according to the trains, their medical certificate and where the train is to go, please inform all the information to the General Manager of Central Railway in the next hour, so that we can plan the time of trains," he said.

"It is 12 o'clock in the night and even after 5 hours, we have not received the details and passenger lists of yesterday's 125 trains from the Government of Maharashtra. I have ordered the officials to wait and continue the preparations," he said in another tweet.

Goyal stated that Maharashtra government claimed to have given a list of 200 trains to Indian Railways. "It was revealed through TV that the Maharashtra government claimed to have given a list of 200 trains to Indian Railways. But the list of passengers of a single train running tomorrow has not come to GM Central Rail even after following up. Please be pleased to give the lists soon," he tweeted.

Goyal shared a press release of Central Railway which stated, "On demands given on daily basis by nodal officers of the Government of Maharashtra, Railways have run 520 Sharmik special trains carrying 7,32,166 migrant workers till May 23. The demands for Sharmik special trains are given by the state government with list of travellers, their destinations and other details after consulting receiving states. So far Railways had to cancel 65 trains, after it was scheduled, for want of adequate preparations by Government of Maharashtra."

The Railways said that states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Kerala, Odisha and Rajasthan have been reluctant to give consent for receiving Shramik special trains.

"The Government of Kerala has requested for prior details of the migrants going to Kerala to enable them to be in readiness for receiving the migrants with proper transportation. This has resulted in the cancellation of a train to Kerala for want of details of migrants going to Kerala," the release said.

The Railways said that it is observed that there are not much demand from Maharashtra government for running Shramik special trains from the districts like Nashik, Dhule, Amravati, Chandrapur and Akola.

"There has been continuous interaction of Railways' nodal officer and his team with the nodal officers of Government of Maharashtra for planning and scheduling of Shramik special trains on a day-to-day basis. So far, demands given by the Government of Maharashtra on a day-to-day basis have complied fully. In the future, Railways is willing to supply trains as per the requirements and details given by state government," the release said.

"Central Railway has been asking for a detailed list from the nodal officer of Maharashtra. Minister of Railways, has also directed to run 125 trains tomorrow in Maharashtra and for the last two hours, Railway authorities have been waiting for the list of passengers with details of their destination to plan for the trains," it said.

"Planning special trains is an elaborate process which requires time and unless lists are given in time, Maharashtra Government will make it impossible for Railways to run the train," the release further said.