'If you don't count, no one died?': Rahul hits out after Centre says no data on migrant deaths

Replying to a question on whether the government had any data on the number of lives lost by migrant workers as they returned to their hometown during the pandemic lockdown, the Centre replied that no such records have been kept. The query was raised by MPs Kani K. Navas, Adoor Prakash and Balubhau Dhanorkar, asking whether any compensation/economic assistance was provided to the victims' families. "No such data is maintained and the question does not arise," the ministry said in a written reply.

This has resulted in opposition outrage. Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "The Modi government does not know how many migrant workers died in lockdown and how many jobs were lost. If you don't count, do people not die?"

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac tweeted: "Centre doesn't care about deaths of migrant workers they caused by pushing them in to trains, makeshift carts and on foot to the distant homes. At least acknowledge tentative and incomplete data of rail Shramik Trains and road accidents."

Dozens of migrant labourers, in their journeys back home, have died in tragic accidents. Hit-and-runs, collisions and even a train speeding down the tracks have killed scores of migrants since the lockdown began and injured many more making a perilous journey home. Lakhs of migrants were on the move—packed into trucks and tempos, riding rickety cycles or just walking towards their villages, hundreds, maybe thousands, of kilometres away—the death count from accidents rose inexorably with each day of the lockdown.