“Only those who plundered the country can qualify the subsidies as profit”: said Piyush Goyal
New Delhi:
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal hit back at Congress on Saturday after Rahul Gandhi accused the railways of making profits from Shramik trains, alleging that only those who “plundered” the country can qualify the subsidies as profit.
“Only those who plundered the country can qualify the subsidies as profit. The railways spent more money to run the Shramik trains than they received from state governments. People are now asking what arrived at Sonia ji’s promise to pay for people’s tickets, ”Mr. Goyal tweeted.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi had said during the migrant crisis that her party would pay for tickets for passengers on the Shramik train after reports emerged that they, mostly poor migrants, had to pay for their journey.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the government of benefiting by making a profit during the coronavirus-induced lockdown when people were in trouble.
“There are clouds of disease and people are in trouble, but we are looking to take advantage of it – this anti-people government turns disaster into profits and wins,” he said in a Hindi tweet, by tagging a new report.
The railways spent 2,142 crore rupees to run special Shramik trains, but made an income of only 429 crore rupees, according to official data.
The data, received via an RTI application filed by activist Ajay Bose, shows the railways earned Rs 428 crore until June 29, when most of the 4,615 trains had been operated.
In addition, he earned around Rs 1 crore by running 13 trains in July.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
