Maharashtra govt sent 13 lakh migrants back to their homes by trains at its own expense: State Home Minister

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], June 7 : Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Sunday said that the state government has sent 13 lakh migrant workers to their homes by train at its own expense.
"We have sent 13 lakh migrant workers home by train and 5.5 lakh migrant workers have been dropped at the border by buses. All the expenses have been borne by the state government. The Railway Ministry has not paid a single penny till now. The Central government had said that they will pay the ticket price but nothing has been done," Deshmukh told media persons here.
The state Home Minister further said that measures are being taken to reduce the prisoners in the State to ensure social distancing is followed there.
"In Maharashtra, there are 60 jails and 38,000 prisoners. Hence, social distancing was not possible in prisons. Recently we took a decision to release prisoners, who were undertrials. After that prisoners who were jailed for seven years were released," he said.
"9,671 prisoners have been released till today and we are trying that the number of prisoners inside prisons should reduce to 17,000 from 38,000," he added.
Deshmukh further said that the government is making efforts to increase testing in Pune.
"9,307 positive cases were here in Pune. 64 per cent of the patients have recovered and the doubling rate is also 17 days here. Till today 59,000 tests have been done. On average, 1,500 tests per day is being done here. Soon, this number will reach 2,000," he said.
"Mortality rate in Maharashtra is 3.55 per cent today while in Pune it is bit more but we are trying to make improvements," he added.