15 migrants on way home killed in three accidents

OFFICIALS SAID THAT CLOSE TO 100 MIGRANT WORKERS WERE ALSO INJURED IN ROAD ACCIDENTS ACROSS STATES ON THURSDAY

Fifteen migrant workers on their way back to their homes were killed in three accidents, one each in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar in the past 24 hours, police officials said.

They added that close to 100 were also injured in road accidents across states on Thursday, as migrant workers continue to seek rides on trucks, cycle, or just walk on the country’s highways in a struggle to return home. The government, starting May 1, announced special trains for migrant workers, but there are still far too few of them and far too many workers wanting to return home. Some of the workers do not have documentation required to travel; others have not registered for the trains or buses being run.

On May 8, 16 workers sleeping on the tracks were run over by a goods train in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district. On

May 9, five workers were killed in Madhya Pradesh’s Narsinghpur district when the truck in which they were travelling hit the central verge of the road. On Wednesday night, six labourers were killed when a bus ran over them on the Saharanpur-muzaffarnagar highway.

In Madhya Pradesh’s Guna, eight migrant labourers, travelling in a truck from Mumbai to Unnao were killed when a bus rammed their truck on Thursday.

And in Bihar, a migrant worker was killed in an accident in Samastipur district.