Lucknow, May 16
Twenty-four migrants died in Aurraiyya district early on Saturday morning when a speeding truck rammed into the stationary mini truck in which they were travelling.
Casualty figures may rise further as the 15 critically injured migrants admitted to Safai’s Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences Hospital are in a serious condition. The remaining 22 migrants had been admitted to the district hospital, said Aurraiya Chief Medical Officer Archana Srivastava.
CM Yogi Adityanath has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each of the deceased migrant and Rs 50,000 for those who have been injured. A state government spokesperson said the CM had directed that all the injured be provided free medical care.
The truck that rammed into the mini truck was carrying bags of lime. According to Aurraiya District Magistrate Abhishek Singh, the 81 migrants who were crammed into the mini-truck were being transported from Rajasthan and Haryana to villages in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The accident occurred under Kotwali police station on the Delhi-Kanpur national highway near Mihauli at 3.30 am. Some migrants had a miraculous escape as they had stopped the mini truck and got off to have tea at a roadside dhaba.
The impact of the accident was so severe that many died in their sleep.
CM takes action
The CM took a string of steps following the submission of IG Kanpur Zone Mohit Agarwal’s preliminary report on the accident after he visited the site.
Fixing responsibility, the CM suspended the Station House Officers of two police stations on the UP border from where the mini truck had entered the state. A stern warning has also been issued to the Circle Officers concerned.
The SSP and additional SPs of the bordering districts of Agra and Mathura have been asked to immediately submit an explanation.
Similarly, ADG and IG Agra Zone have also been asked to explain how the migrants entered the state and were travelling in a truck despite orders not to allow them use such unsafe modes of transport.
The CM has asked officers to book both the drivers under appropriate sections of the IPC and impound both the vehicles.
Fresh directions have been issued to the district authorities of the bordering districts not to allow migrants to travel by truck or any other unsafe mode of conveyance.
The CM expressed unhappiness over officials not following an earlier order regarding migrant labourers returning to the state.
In an earlier order, he had asked the officials to keep 200 buses and funds ready under the district magistrates of the border districts to facilitate the travel of migrants to their destinations who enter the state so that they do not travel by unsafe modes of transport, said a government spokesperson.
Despite orders, the death of migrants continues unabated. On Friday, four migrants were killed in two separate accidents in Jalaun and Bahraich and two were found dead inside Shramik Special trains in Ayodhya.
On Thursday, six migrants were run over by an Uttar Pradesh state transport corporation bus on the highway in Muzaffarnagar district. They were walking from Punjab to their hometowns in Bihar.
