Death of 24 Migrant Workers in Mishap in UP due to Govt. Apathy: SDPI

Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) national general secretary Mohammad Shafi in a statement termed the killings of 24 migrant workers in a road accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district, about 200 km from the state capital Lucknow as homicide due to government apathy and negligence. In cases like this, the culprits are not brought before law as they occupy high government offices. This accident is the outcome of the humanitarian crisis precipitated from the ill-planned lockdown by the Modi government.

The migrant workers, the poorest in the society are pushed to hold this ‘death-march’ by the rulers. They are walking thousands of kilometers to their homes against all odds braving heat, hunger, thirst and exhaustion. The lockdown announcement without proper arrangements for the workers to reach their home forced them to walk back and they are being killed on roads and railway tracks. The insensitive governments at the center and some states seem to be enjoying the deaths of these poor people.

The Covid-19 has exposed the hypocrisy of the Hindutwa rightwing completely. While the non-BJP state governments, NGOs and voluntary organizations are in the forefront of helping these workers, the BJP governments are holding those who help them guilty. The UP government has declared it an offence to provide food and shelter to these workers.

Shafi said that this migrant-workers crisis has become a shame on India’s Coronavirus lockdown. More than 300 people have been killed whose deaths are not related to the virus at all. He urged the government to take effective steps to provide proper transportation to the migrant workers and ensure that they reach their home safely.