Union home minister Amit Shah today wrote to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that her government was not allowing trains to bring back the state’s migrant workers to Bengal, sparking a fresh confrontation between the Centre and the state government.

The missive provoked a fierce response from the Trinamul Congress, which accused the Union minister of spreading a bundle of lies, while the state government said 6,000 migrants have already returned and as many as ten trains carrying more labourers will arrive soon.

In his letter to the chief minister, Mr Shah said the Centre had already facilitated more than two lakh migrant workers return home in other states. He said the migrant workforce from Bengal was also eager to return home and the Central government was willing to help. However, the state government was not offering the required support.

The home minister said the Bengal government was not allowing the trains to reach the state. “This is injustice with West Bengal migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,” the letter said. Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien and Lok Sabha PM Abhishek Banerjee responded sharply, accusing Mr Shah of making slanderous remarks against Miss Banerjee.

Mr O’Brien stated that Mr Shah woke up after 45-days slumber to make a false allegation, while Mr Banerjee said the Union home minister should either apologise for making a fake statement or provide proof. Later in the evening, state home secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay said that elaborate arrangements have been made to bring back migrant workers stranded outside the state.

A special train carrying migrant workers from Telangana will reach Malda tomorrow. Special trains are being arranged to bring back stranded migrant workers, pilgrims and patients from Kerala, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Karnataka.

Along with this, discussions are on for bringing back pilgrims stranded in Vrindavan, Varanasi and Mathura, he said. “Bengal government is in communication with the nodal officers of all states for bringing back the stranded people. Train schedules are being prepared and we are hopeful that it will be finalised very soon. The migrant labourers inbound to West Bengal are provided food and transport facilities to take them to their home districts, along with this outbound labourers are helped to reach the designated points of those states,” Mr Bandopadhyay told the Press at Nabanna today.

According to Mr Bandopadhya, apart from special trains, more than 1000 buses have been arranged for migrant workers who have walked up to the state’s border from neighbouring states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam and Sikkim.

Intra-district buses have carried thousands of migrant workers in the last two to three days, he added Meanwhile, West Bengal recorded 108 new Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths in the last 24 hours. A total of 1,786 coronavirus cases have been recorded till now.

Forty nine patients were discharged from hospitals since yesterday, taking the total number of recovered patients to 372. The death toll due to the coronavirus is 99 and there are 1243 active corona cases.

“The state government has proposed goods transportation through an alternative route instead of the usual Indo-Bangla train route as there are “local issues, emotive issues and contagion” Mr Bandopadhyay added.