Agartala- After the first Shramik Special train carrying 1,200 people reached here from Bengaluru on Wednesday, a senior Tripura minister accused the West Bengal government of not cooperating with the state administration to send back the people stranded there.
Tripura has taken an initiative to bring back 39,799 people of the state stranded in different parts of the country, who have registered themselves with the state”s COVID-19 control-room helpline, an official said.
“We are getting help from all state governments in bringing back our stranded people. But, we are not receiving any cooperation from the West Bengal government,” Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath told reporters.
While 8,634 people of Tripura are stranded in West Bengal, the administration there have issued only 164 passes, he said adding that 141 people who received passes have already moved from there.
“Our officers earnestly requested the authorities of West Bengal for issuing more passes, but they did not pay heed to our appeal,” Nath said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb posted a video of people stranded for nearly two months in Bangalore, disembarking from the Shramik Special train on his Facebook page.
“Shramik special train carrying around 1,200 stranded people has arrived in Agartala from Bangalore today. I am happy as they all returned to state safely. They are now undergoing proper screening as per health protocols. With the blessing of Mata Tripurasundari, all stranded people will be brought back soon. #TripuraCares4all,” Deb said.
Another train is scheduled to leave for Tripura from Karnataka on May 15.
The first train from Chennai would leave for Tripura on Thursday and people are coming to Mumbai from different parts of Maharashtra to be brought back home, an official added. PTI
