Daijiworld Media Network - Alappuzha (SD)

Alappuzha, May 5: The Kerala government on Tuesday, rejected a cheque offered by the Congress to assist the migrant workers to return to their native.

The Alappuzha district Congress committee had offered a cheque of Rs 10 lac, but the district collector refused to accept it by saying that there was no provision to accept such an offer.

The district collector of Alappuzha M Anjana said, that there was no approval from the government to accept the cheque.

Meanwhile, the Congress general secretary K C Venugopal asked the Kerala government to keep aside the false pride and accept the cheque as there is a dire need in the current situation.

As pointed out by the party that railway is charging Rs 930 for a ticket to Bihar and the migrant labourers have complained that the fare is Rs 200 more than the normal price.

A train is all set to leave Alappuzha with 1,140 migrant workers on Tuesday afternoon to Hazaribagh in Bihar.

The migrant workers expressed their anguish and said that it was cruel on the part of the Kerala government to have rejected the offer.

On Monday, May 4, Congress president Sonia Gandhi slammed the government for charging fares prices from the migrant labourers stranded in the lockdown intending to return to their homes and offered to bear the expenses for their travel.

She lamented the government's decision for charging for the tickets in times of crisis and said that it was very disturbing.

The Congress president then stated that a decision was taken by the Congress state units to pay the cost of train travel for the migrant workers. Further, she asserted that all necessary steps would be taken to ensure the decision fulfilled.

Venugopal said that the move by the Congress in such times is historic while Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala maintained that the state units of the party would pay the cost of the train travel of migrants to the state chief secretaries.