Bodies of 16 labourers brought home to MP

BHOPAL/JABALPUR: The bodies of the 16 labourers, who were run over by a freight train near Maharashtra’s Aurangabad on Friday, were brought to their native Madhya Pradesh on a special train on Saturday.

The labourers were from Shahdol and Umaria districts and were sleeping on train tracks after a long journey on foot en route to Madhya Pradesh when they were killed. They were in a group of 20 people, who had left Jalna for their villages the previous evening without waiting for their employer to pay their wages as factories remained shut due to the nationwide lockdown imposed since late March .

The labourers -- 11 from Shadol and 5 from Umaria -- had unsuccessfully tried to get passes for the special trains that the railways started last week for the people stranded across the country because of the lockdown. Tens of thousands of workers have been walking home from big cities after losing their jobs due to the lockdown.

“Two special bogies were attached to the train, which carried about 1,300 labourers from Aurangabad, to bring back the bodies. The bodies were later sent to Shahdol and Umaria. There were two injured labourers from Mandla, who were sent in an ambulance,” said Jabalpur police superintendent (railways) SS Jain.

Last rites were performed in presence of administrative authorities, according to officials. Jabalpur collector Bharat Yadav said all the labourers, who came from Aurangabad, belong to villages in Jabalpur, Shahdol and Rewa and were subjected to medical examinations at the railway station before they were sent to their native homes on buses with arrangements for food and water.