Lucknow, Mar 30 (UNI) Inhumane approach of the Bareilly administration gave ammunition to the Opposition Parties in Uttar Pradesh to attack on the Yogi Adityanath government over the poor handling of coronavirus pandemic particularly arranging transportation and food for the migrant labours.
After maintaining a long silence, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati was the first to react on Monday when she alleged that there have been reports of atrocities on migrant workers during the ongoing nationwide lockdown.
Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Mayawati said, "The reports and pictures of atrocities have become common in the media but punishing migrant workers by spraying insecticides in UP's Bareilly is cruelty and inhumanity which is extremely condemnable. The government should immediately pay attention."
Earlier, the BSP honcho had hailed the financial package announced by the Centre during the lockdown and had said that arrangements should be made for those individuals, who are travelling long distances on foot, so that they can safely reach their homes rather than being stranded. She also advised that it would be better that instead of buses, some trains should be arranged on the routes, where thousands and thousands of migrants labours had to reach during this hour of medical emergency.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too raised the inhumane behavior of local authorities and asked the Yogi government not to spray chemicals on migrant workers who are already facing hardships. In a tweet, she said that the entire nation stand united to fight the situation, but such actions on migrant workers is not accpetable. "This move will not protect them, but expose them to larger health hazards," she said.
"Who is in-charge and how did the UP govt allow this to happen!?" asked senior Congress leader Jitin Prasada.
Prasada, a former Union Minister, said, "the mistreatment of these already persecuted migrants at the hands of government officials is despicable".
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, in a tweet, demanded to know if the spraying of chemicals was in accordance with the WHO guidelines. He asked about the treatment of the side effects of the chemicals.
Notably, a large number of migrant workers had crossed the Delhi border and set out towards their destinations on foot during the lockdown. On the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, arrangements of 1000 of buses, food and shelter was done for these workers.
However, still hundreds of migrants could be seen thronging to bus stations to get some conveyance or many of them were even walking for several hundred miles to somehow reach back home.
UNI MB JAL 1918