Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday hit out at the government over the accident in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya in which 24 migrant labourers were killed, saying it has again raised the question as to why the government is not facilitating the migrant labourers' journey to their homes. At least 24 migrant labourers lost their lives and 36 people sustained injuries when a trailer truck carrying them collided with another truck in the early hours of Saturday in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh, police said.
"Auraiya's heart-rending incident has once again raised the question that why is the government not making proper arrangements for the migrant labourers to go home? Why are buses not being run in the states to take labourers home?" Gandhi tweeted.
Either the government is unable to see anything or it is seeing everything and is acting as if it does not know, the Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East said. Is the government's job only to make statements, she asked.
"The dead bodies of all the deceased should be respectfully handed over to their family members. All the injured must get proper treatment," Gandhi said. All of them should be given financial support, she added.
Gandhi also sought permission from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to run 1,000 buses for the migrant workers wanting to return home. In a letter to the chief minister, the Congress leader said the party will bear expenses of their homeward journey. She also helped a group of migrant labourers walking from Ambala to Chattarpur in Madhya Pradesh as they reached Faridabad, arranging for transport as well as food, water, medicines and masks for them, according to the Congress.
Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the migrant labourers killed in the accident.
