Former Union Minister of State for Home Affairs RPN Singh on Saturday slammed the Railways for suggesting that the Gorakhpur-bound Shramik special from Mumbai went to Odisha to avoid ‘congestion’ on the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar route.
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“These people were not equipped for such a long journey. They didn’t know that they would be going on a Bharat Darshan and would travel to five States before reaching home,” Mr. Singh told The Hindu.
The train had left Mumbai on May 21 and was headed for Gorakhpur. However, instead of going straight to U.P., it reached Rourkela in Odisha.
Mr. Singh, a former MP of Padrauna — a neighbouring constituency of Gorakhpur — tweeted a video of a passenger who claimed that the train driver had lost his way and landed in Odisha.
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“Shramik special from Mumbai to Gorakhpur, U.P. lands up in Rourkela, Odisha because the driver lost his way. Any resemblance to current government strategy is purely coincidental. Hope the exhausted passengers get home safely soon,” the Congress leader took a dig at the government.
In another Hindi tweet, Mr. Singh tagged the Railways and said, “The train left Mumbai on May 21 at 7:30 p.m. and is in Bihar at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The tired, hungry and disappointed migrant brothers want to reach home soon but you are creating more trouble for them.”
