A day after the Congress-led Rajasthan government submitted a bill of over Rs 36 lakh for making arrangements for the return of stranded students of Uttar Pradesh from Kota, the Yogi Adityanath government cleared the dues on Friday an official told PTI.
Amid the war of words between Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Uttar Pradesh government over the arrangement of buses for migrant workers raged on, the Yogi-led government on Thursday had said the Congress government in Rajasthan has sent a bill of 36.36 lakh for providing buses to ferry stranded students from Kota in April.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's media advisor Mritunjay Kumar had strongly criticised the demand of Rs 36 lakh, saying it only revealed the "inhuman face" of the Rajasthan government.
Sources in the UP government also said that the incident exposed the "double standards" of Congress while adding that the party, on one hand, is attacking state government but is also seeking immediate payment for busses it arranged for the students. They also claimed that the state government has been ferrying migrant labourers free of cost through its buses.
"In mid-April, the Uttar Pradesh government had decided to bring students of UP stranded in Kota due to lockdown back home. Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) buses were deployed for bringing them back, but the number of students there was more than our estimate and we needed additional buses," UPSRTC Managing Director Raj Shekhar told PTI.
"The buses of Rajasthan Roadways available in Kota were used for ferrying students till Agra and Mathura. The bill for the same was raised by the Rajasthan Roadways which has been cleared by the UPSRTC," he was further quoted as saying.
On Wednesday, hundreds of buses arranged by the Congress on the Rajasthan-Uttar Pradesh for migrant workers turned back, hinting an end to the party's standoff with the UP government. In a video, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the party is withdrawing the 1,000 buses it had arranged if the Uttar Pradesh government didn't want to make use of to help stranded migrant workers reach home.
(With inputs from PTI)
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