Chhattisgarh witnesses 63.41% voter turnout till 5 pm
Till 5 pm, polling stations registered a commendable 63.41% participation rate for the Bastar parliamentary seat.
Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, politics does’t seem to take a back seat any time soon, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel accused Railways Minister Piyush Goyal of doing politics over the issue of running trains for migrants and asked him to fight the COVID-19 outbreak together with the states.
“Piyush Goyal ji first said that Chhattisgarh is not giving permission for trains. We responded to him that the state has given all approvals. There is no approval pending with Chhattisgarh (for running of trains). He has not responded to it yet,” said Baghel.
Goyal had appealed to states like West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to approve more trains.
Advertisement
The CM said the railways minister is now giving challenges on the issue of pending permissions for trains by the state.
Goyal had reportedly challenged Baghel to prove that the Centre did not approve the trains after receiving request from both the sending and receiving states.
“It is my request to Goyal ji that this is not the time for doing politics or giving challenges. It is time to fight the coronavirus pandemic together. It is time for helping migrant workers,” Baghel was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
The CM said that Chhattisgarh has also sought permission from Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka among others for running the trains, which is still pending.
Both the sending and receiving states need to give permission for running of trains.
What do we do now? And, you are giving us challenges, the chief minister said.
Baghel said the state government has paid over Rs 1.16 crore for ferrying migrant workers working in other states to Chhattisgarh.
There are 67 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the state, while 56 people recovered from the virus. There are no deaths reported from the state, according to health ministry data. Chhattisgarh administration has been able to successfully contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
Advertisement
