PM Modi anguished by Maharashtra train accident

Last updated on February 13th, 2023 at 04:17 pm

16 migrant workers who were on track were grinded to death by Goods train near Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

The migrant workers were walking from Jalna to Bhusawal as they were returning from Madhya Pradesh to reach their home town amid lockdown. An empty Goods train ran over the 16 migrants fatally and injured few other migrants, who were actually resting/sleeping on the track around 5:30am in the morning today(May 8,2020).

Since, ever the lockdown was introduced in the Nation migrant workers who have been living in other states of India and working were facing severe issues. ‘No work, No wage’ was the foremost reason to push these migrant workers to get back to their home town.

Government provides Shramik trains for migrants, then why they chose to walk to reach home town?

Shramik trains are the free transportation scheme, introduced by our Indian Railways earlier this week with the motive of bringing & taking the migrant workers safe to home town, who were struggling without food and work during this lockdown. Though Government facilitates migrant workers transport to home town via railways announced from May 1,2020 and operating it, the migrant workers who were dead wouldn’t have been aware of that.

The actual distance from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra is merely 600 kms and human needs to walk 5 long-days to complete this distance in walk. Although the facts are one side, nobody could walk continually without resting and if they took half-day to rest and half-day to walk(assuming), then they would have started 10 days back from Madhya Pradesh, which is technically before May 1,2020.

How the migrants got on Maharashtra train track?

The migrants who walked down from Madhya Pradesh to Aurangabad, Maharashtra have slept on the train track due to their tiredness probably. They weren’t aware of trains running as they thought, ‘there is lockdown in nation and there is no trains running.’

PM Modi: “Ëxtremely anguished”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his Twitter to express his grief about the train accident that occured today. He also stated that he have already asked Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to look close into the situation.

Though Government run trains for migrants, today(May 8,2020) they have lost their lives due to lack of awareness. Government have to ensure that, when a new scheme/programme is announced, it reaches the people properly and especially to sector, who are really benefited by the scheme.

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