AURANGABAD: Maharashtra government on Friday announced the Rs 5 lakh financial aid to the 16 deceased migrant workers families who got killed in the train accident at Karmad-Satana near Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
The goods train ran over the 19 migrant workers, killing 16 while rest were seriously injured.
These migrants were resting at train track after walking a day from Jalna to Aurangabad.
The distance between the Jalna to Aurangabad is around 150 kilometres.
They wanted to go Bhuswal to catch the train or any mode of transport and go back to Chattisgarh, the native state.
When these migrants were in their deep sleep after walking the entire day in the scorching heat, the goods train rammed over them by killing them at around 4.00 am Friday.
“Migrants thought that no trains are running so they slept on the train track. Most of the migrants had no information of other roads and transport is not also available. Therefore they are walking alongside the train tracks to go to their destinations. These migrants were working in a steel factory in Jalna’ MIDC,” said an official.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray released the statement and said that Aurangabad incident is very unfortunate.
“The migrants should not lose hopes and leave their shelter homes. We are talking with the central government to start the train to ferry the migrants at their native places. We are hopeful that the central government will work on fast by starting as many as train to avoid inconvenience to migrants workers,” Thackeray said.
He also announced the five lakh as financial help to the deceased families and bore their medical and other expenses.
“The railway has already started the special train for migrants and so far over one lakh migrant had gone back to their native. We are talking with central government to arrange the transport to migrants,” the chief minister said.
Thackeray also said he was in constant touch with the Centre over the issue of running more trains to ferry migrant labourers, stranded due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, to their native places.
Maharashtra Congress president Balasaheb Thorat said that they are ready to foot the travel bill of the migrants but the central and the respective state government including Gujarat, Karnataka etc are not helping them.
“They are not taking their state people. If the centre did not extend help immediately then the poor migrants will suffer more,” Thorat said.
After learning about the tragedy, Thackeray spoke to Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta and railway officials to get details about what happened.
These labourers were employed in a steel manufacturing plant in Jalna, a neighbouring district of Aurangabad in central Maharashtra.
Special Shramik Trains are being operated from different parts of the state to ferry stranded migrant workers to their native places.
Thackeray appealed to migrant workers not to put their lives at risk and stay at shelter camps till travel arrangements are made for them.
"The state government is in constant touch with the Railway ministry . A train will start from Mumbai, too, soon. I appeal to workers not to put their lives at risk."
(With PTI Inputs)