The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The Home Ministry circular which details the conditions of the third phase of lockdown has permitted the movement of trains to take migrants back to their homes. However, it is shocking and condemnable that once again apart from giving instructions to State Governments, the Central Government is refusing to take any financial responsibility. Migrant workers boarding trains from various places to return home are being forced to pay for their own tickets and also for food. Those who have been asked to board buses are being forced to pay exorbitant rates for travel.
It is sheer cruelty to expect workers who have absolutely no earnings for the last two months because of the lockdown to pay for their own train tickets. Nor can the State Governments bear this financial expenditure when they have not received any help whatsoever from the Central Government.
It must be recalled that the migrants got stranded through no fault of theirs because the Central Government imposed the lockdown with a notice of just four hours. The Polit Bureau demands that that Central Government should bear the expenses of the entire travel expenses of the workers who want to go back to their homes. All arrangements for their safe travel within the State must be made by the State Government concerned.