MUMBAI :
Maharashtra government should give permission to private vehicles for ferrying migrant labourers to their native places during the lockdown, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said on Sunday.
The COVID-19 crisis and resultant lockdown have set off a mass migration of workers across the country as misery befell upon them in the form of lack of jobs. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Raut reasoned that private vehicles should be allowed to take the migrants to their destinations as they are taking foot journeys.
Owing to such arduous walks, several incidences have occurred, where these people have either fallen sick or even died, he said. He further said that the labour class is walking back home, this is not a good picture. Their children are with them. Railways is not ready to operate trains for them.
In a recent tragedy on May 8, 16 migrants were overrun by a goods train, while they were sleeping on rail tracks near Aurangabad. The victims, along with four others, were anxiously trying to reach their native place in Madhya Pradesh. On March 28, four migrants were mowed down by a speeding tempo on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in Palghar district. On April 14, the plight of the daily wagers was again captured on media lenses when thousands of migrants thronged to the Bandra West Railway Station, asking to transport them to their hometowns in northern India.
Infamously labelled as Bandra migrants gathering, the incident also kicked off a controversy as the Opposition BJP clamoured for the resignation of Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. BJP asserted laxity in enforcement of curbs, which led to such a huge gathering at the spot, while the ruling dispensation insinuated wrongdoing to malign the image of tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi government. In the reverberating political furore, the fact that the police used force to disperse the gathering also made a few headlines.
