India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, MAY 16— In the biggest accident involving migrant workers ever since the Coronavirus-driven nationwide lockdown was imposed in the last week of March, at least 24 people were killed and 37 injured, some of them seriously, when two trucks collided in the wee hours of Saturday (May 16) in the Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh.
In the last one week, more than 65 workers (not exact figures) have been killed in different accidents while on move towards their homes.
In the May 8 train accident in Aurangabad of Maharashtra, which was the biggest accident then since March 24 when the lockdown was imposed, 16 exhausted migrant workers sleeping on a railway track were crushed by a goods train.
A light Google search reveals that more than 65 migrant workers, forced to leave cities of their jobs as starvation looked imminent due to the continuous lockdown, have died in accidents in different parts of the country in the last one week.
–16 May: 24 Migrant Workers were killed and 37 injured when two trucks they were travelling in collided at around 2:30 am in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district. They were returning from Rajasthan and Delhi and were headed to their homes in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
— 14 May: 6 Migrant Workers were run over by an Uttar Pradesh government bus on a highway in Muzaffarnagar district. They were walking to their hometowns in Bihar from Punjab.
— 14 May: 9 Migrant Workers were killed and 50 others were injured as their truck collided head-on with a bus on a highway in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. The migrants were on their way to Uttar Pradesh from Mumbai.
— 12 May: 1 Migrant Worker from Bihar was killed and another injured when they were hit by a speeding car in Haryana.
— 11 May: 2 Migrants Workers, including a woman and her daughter, were killed in a road accident in Fatehpur of Uttar Pradesh. They were coming from Maharashtra and were headed towards Jaunpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh. They had travelled over 1200 km in an auto-rickshaw for three days.
— 11 May: 1 Migrant Worker, cycling home, was killed in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.
— 9 May: 6 Migrant Workers were killed and 12 others injured when a mango-laden truck overturned in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh. They were returning to their homes in Uttar Pradesh.
— 8 May: 16 Migrant Workers were mowed down by a goods train in Aurangabad of Maharashtra when the exhausted labourers were sleeping on a railway track. They were headed towards their homes in Madhya Pradesh.
In First 10 Days of Lockdown, Over 50 Migrants Were Killed
In order to contain the spread of Coronavirus, the central government imposed lockdown across the country on March 24 after a short notice of four hours. About a week into the lockdown, thousands of migrants began leaving the cities and towns where they were living to earn livelihood as it became unbearable for them to stay there anymore. Most of the workers began walking hundreds and thousands of miles towards their homes as both public and private transports were halted by the government.
In several accidents, over 50 people were killed in the first 10 days of the lockdown.
Journalists and others have been sharing scores of painful videos of migrant workers, including women and children, marching on hot highways. People on social media and opposition parties have been critical of both central and state governments for the tragic situation of migrants across the country.
While the Indian Railways have started special trains for migrant workers from different parts of the country from early this month, yet thousands are seen walking on roads towards their distant homes because either they don’t have money to buy tickets or can’t wait for days and weeks for their seat in trains as they have or are running out of resources.
The Union Home Ministry on Friday issued a notice to states and union territories “to ensure that movement of stranded migrant workers who are willing to go to their home states is facilitated.”
“States/UTs should widely disseminate the arrangements for travel in special buses/Shramik special trains amongst the migrant workers and persuade/counsel them that they should not be walking when they can travel in buses/trains,” said the notice.
Earlier in the day on Friday, the Supreme Court of India rejected a plea seeking relief for migrants, saying it was impossible for courts to monitor or stop the movement of migrant workers across the country. The court said it is for the government to take necessary action in this regard.
