Indian migrant workers killed in road accident while returning home

24 laborers who were on their way home from India's capital city of New Delhi were killed when a truck carrying migrant workers rammed the vehicle they were on

peoples and Peoples Dispatch
May 17 2020

Over 50 workers were also injured in the accident.

At least 24 laborers were killed in a road accident in Auraiya in the State of Uttar Pradesh in India on May 16, Saturday. This is the latest is a series of incidents in which migrant workers were killed since the countrywide COVID-19 lockdown was imposed on March 25. The incident took place when the truck carrying laborers was hit by another truck which was also transporting migrant laborers.
The stationary vehicle was reportedly on its way to the State of Madhya Pradesh from Delhi. The one that rammed it had begun its journey in Rajasthan. Both vehicles were ferrying workers who had found themselves without jobs, money or food as a result of the lockdown.

“The accident took place when some laborers traveling on the truck (coming from Delhi) halted on the Auraiya-Kanpur Dehat Road to have tea at a local shop. At this point of time, a truck coming from Rajasthan hit the stationary vehicle,” Inspector General, Kanpur, Mohit Agarwal told PTI over the phone.

Fourteen workers out of the 36 that have been injured have been admitted to a hospital in Saifai in Etawah district. The remaining 22 have been hospitalized in Auraiya, about 400 km from New Delhi and 200 km from the state capital Lucknow, Agarwal said.

Earlier on May 8, as many as 16 migrant workers were killed when a cargo train ran over them while they were sleeping near the city of Aurangabad. They had fallen asleep on the tracks after walking barefoot for hundreds of kilometers.

Before that another eight laborers lost their lives when a truck carrying laborers from Mumbai met with an accident in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna in which at least 54 laborers were left critically wounded. Prior to that incident, six more migrant workers were killed on May 6  by a bus on a highway in Uttar Pradesh.
Most of these workers were walking barefoot from the northern State of Punjab to different districts of Bihar when the state transport bus ran over them near Muzaffarnagar.

Millions of migrant workers have been affected because of COVID-19 crisis. In addition to the fear of contracting the disease, many have been left without food and money and hence, have been trying to get home. In the absence of transport, many were forced to walk long distances or find any makeshift form of transport. Few States have taken effective measures to take care of the migrant workers. 
India
Tags