2 SHOs suspended, Rs 2 lakh ex gratia for kin of migrant workers killed in UP road accident

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday directed suspension of SHOs of two police stations and that stern warning be issued to the circle officers concerned after 24 migrant workers were killed in a road accident near Auraiya. According to a statement issued here, the state government has decided to give Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured in the accident. The chief minister has also condoled the death of the migrant labourers.

"Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday directed that SHOs of two police stations located in state's border area be suspended and stern warning be issued to the circle officers concerned. One of the border districts is Agra," UP Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi was quoted as saying in a statement. Orders have also been issued to register a case under relevant sections of the IPC against both the truck owners and to seize the vehicles, he said.

Besides this, clarification has been sought from the Senior Superintendents of Police and Additional Superintendents of Police of Mathura and Agra. Also, clarification has been sought from ADG and IG of Agra. "The chief minister has said that directions have been given to all the border areas to ensure that no person travels by unsafe means such as trucks. Directions have already been issued to keep 200 buses under the disposal of district magistrates in every district of border areas. Funds have also been approved to send the labourers by buses. The district magistrates must strictly comply with these orders," the statement said.

Later, chairing a meeting of senior officials at his residence, Adityanath said, "The state government is working on a war-footing to ensure safe and respectable return of migrant labourers to their homes. The government is bringing labourers to the state through trains free of cost." He appealed to the migrant labourers not to undertake illegal or unsafe journey to return home, and directed officials to provide food and water to the migrant labourers as soon as they enter the state's border. The chief minister also said quarantine centres and community kitchens should be kept in proper shape for migrant labourers.

"Lockdown must be strictly implemented, and availability of ultra-red thermometer must be ensured in every village. Ventilators should be in functional in every district. Along with this, there should be availability of trained doctors and paramedics," he said. Adityanath directed the officials of various departments to prepare a work plan, so that the state can benefit from the package recently announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a statement.

At least 24 migrant workers were killed and 36 injured when a trailer rammed into a stationary truck, both carrying passengers, on a highway near Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh in the early hours of Saturday. Some of the workers coming from Delhi had stopped for tea when the accident occurred between 3 am and 3.30 am on the Auraiya-Kanpur Dehat stretch of National Highway 19, police said.

The impact of the collision, the latest in a series of road tragedies involving migrant workers returning to their villages, was so huge that both vehicles overturned and fell into a ditch. Most of those killed were from Jharkhand and West Bengal, and some from Kushinagar in eastern Uttar Pradesh, officials said.