Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, accused of having a heartless approach toward those who wanted to return to the state, on Monday announced that no fare will be charged from students returning to the state by special trains while labourers will be reimbursed the expenses incurred, besides getting additional assistance, after they complete the mandatory 21-day quarantine.

In a video message, Kumar said these measures were already in place but blamed bayaanbaazi (political statements by the opposition) for the confusion which he felt was imperative to dispel.

“No fare is being charged from the students. The migrant labourers are being taken from railway stations to their respective block headquarters where they have to stay in quarantine for 21 days. Once they come out, they will be reimbursed for the full expenses and get an additional aid of Rs 500 each. Thus, each worker will be getting a minimum of Rs 1000,” Nitish Kumar said.

“We took the decision to ensure free journey back home for our students and now, a similar facility is being extended to migrants labourers too,” the BIhar CM added.

Nitish’s promise comes hours after opposition party leader Tejashwi Yadav offered to pay for all the passengers of 50 trains.

“Respected Nitish Kumar-ji, the RJD is ready to bear the fare on behalf of poor labourers for 50 special trains because a ‘double engine government’ is not capable (of doing that). Please ensure arrangements at the earliest. Sushil Modi-ji, tell us the full amount. The cheque will be sent immediately. Anyway, you are fond of looking at the ledger,” Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

Meanwhile, a ‘Shramik Special’ train will today depart from Benagluru for Patna in Bihar. On Sunday two trains left for Patna from Karnataka.

Earlier in the day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had thanked the Centre for considering the suggestion to run special trains to bring back to the state those stranded in other places.

“Nobody will have to pay for the tickets. A quarantine centre has been set up here for them,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Nitish Kumar’s free train ride promise comes in the wake of several opposition parties including the Congress lashing out at the Centre for charging the migrants for their return journey.

Last week, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar had made a laughing stock of itself after the chief minister, while interacting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video-conferencing, had said that it was not possible for the state government to bring back all those stranded in various parts of the country until the Centre makes amendments in its lockdown rules.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had said that “There are around 27 lakh people from Bihar stranded across various Indian cities such as Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, and it is just impossible to bring them back by buses as each bus will take a minimum of 6-7 days to complete its journey”.

Another Bihar minister and JD(U) leader Ashok Kumar Chaudhary too offered similar explanations, virtually rejecting the Centre’s announcement asking the state governments to initiate steps at their own levels to bring their citizens back.