SG in court: originating state or receiving state paying train fare

In what could blow up in the govt's face, the Centre seems to be admitting that it is not paying the 85% rail travel fare of migrant workers, something that union ministers have repeatedly told the public. After Supreme Court pulled up the Centre, asking who is paying for the transportation of migrant workers, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Court on Thursday, that, either originating state pays their fare, or the receiving state. Mehta said originating state picks up migrant workers and gets them to railway stations, where they are screened, meals during their travel are provided by the railways free of cost. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a press conference had said the union govt is bearing 85% of the train fare for migrant workers, while states were bearing the remaining 15%.