Thousands of people wait with their luggage outside the CST terminal in Mumbai
Mumbai:
Huge crowds of migrant workers, hoping to be able to return home by train, gathered at the CST terminal in Mumbai this afternoon. Until late in the evening, they were still there.
These huge crowds outside of Mumbai stations have become a regular event – most of them never go on the train because they have not signed up for the special trains run by the Center for Migrant Workers.
Videos from outside the CST terminal showed thousands of people waiting with their luggage until late in the evening.
The last time that happened, it was last Tuesday, when people bound for Bihar gathered in front of the Bandra terminus of Mumbai and waited until they were turned back by the police. Only registered persons were authorized to board the train.
Although the Mumbai police were responsible for the registration, the state government also charged the Center with crowd accumulation.
Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik today accused the Center of engaging in special train policy for migrant workers.
“For the past two days, the Minister of Railways (Piyush Goyal) has been playing politics. It allocated 49 trains to transport migrants from Lokmanya Tilak station. 16 trains. Passengers on 49 trains were waiting at the station, “said Malik, adding to statement by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that Maharashtra had obtained only half of the trains requested.
“I think he (Mr. Goyal) is deliberately playing politics,” said Mr. Malik.
In a series of tweets around 2 a.m. Monday, Piyush Goyal countered the chief minister’s allegation, saying his department would work overnight if it received a list of trains, passengers and Mr. Thackeray’s destinations.
Today, the minister struck the Maharashtra government again, saying that the railways could only run 13 trains until 3 p.m., even though he had planned 145, just for lack of passengers.
In recent weeks, Mumbai, which employs a large number of migrant workers, has experienced reverse migration. Thousands of people have signed up to return home using special trains run by the Center. Others took buses, illegal trucks and even walked.
