Migrants ditched in UP town, Jitin Prasada arranges passage ahead

New Delhi/Shahjahanpur, May 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) Around 100 migrants travelling from Haryana's Yamunanagar to West Bengal were left stranded in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur when the truck driver who was transporting them suddenly abandoned them there.

The migrants alleged that the driver had taken Rs 3,000 each from them, but on some pretext, dropped them there and took off.

Hearing of their plight, former Union Minister Jitin Prasada reached the spot and informed the district administration of the situation. He also arranged buses for them with the help of the officials for their onward journey.

"This is gross negligence... when the government has said that nobody will travel by truck, then how were they (these migrants) allowed to cross state borders," he asked.

After last week's accident in UP's Auraiya left two dozen migrant workers dead, the UP government has ordered that no migrant labourers should be allowed to travel by truck or lorry.

Citing the Congress' ongoing row with the state government, Prasada said: "The state government is busy in doing politics over the buses provided by Congress.... had it been the case, the migrants would have not been forced to travel like this."

"This is the time to cooperate, not the time for credit," he said, lashing out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as a standoff continued at the UP border in Agra with the buses lined up not allowed to enter the state and state Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu being detained.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi has also requested the UP government to take the buses to help the migrants and take credit for it.She even said Chief Minister Adityanath can put his poster and the party flag on the buses.

Source: IANS