Government responsible for tragedy in Aurangabad: Shiv Sena

The "government" was responsible for the death of 16 migrant laborers who were mown down by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, Shiv Sena mouthpiece `Saamana' said in its editorial on Saturday. The newspaper, however, did not make it clear whether it blamed the BJP-led Centre or the Sena-led Maharashtra government for the tragedy.

"The government did not think of allowing them to go back to their native place, nor did it make arrangements for their food," the editorial said, adding that the authorities should have taken into consideration the problems of the poor before enforcing lockdown on account of coronavirus. The sight of `rotis' strewn on the railway track where the migrants who had fallen asleep due to exhaustion while on their way to Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death showed a heart-wrenching and harsh reality, Samanta said.

"The laborers were in fine health and had no symptoms of coronavirus and still they died. The responsibility of their death lies with the government," the editorial said. "Lockdown was enforced to ensure people are safe from coronavirus. But poor laborers are dying of hunger due to the lockdown," it said.

The laborers who died on the railway track were victims of the pandemic and not an accident, it asserted. The plight faced by migrant laborers was not restricted to Maharashtra but to the entire country, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece said.

"Due to the lockdown, businesses and industries have been closed and workers want to go back to their homes. As no transportation is available, they are walking back with small children and the government is seeing all this with open eyes. "It is sad to see a young mother with her belongings in one hand and a small child in another walking 1,600 km to reach her destination. It is shameful that the country's labor class is suffering in this way," the editorial said.

Despite appeals made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of the states to stay where they are, migrant laborers are on the move, the editorial said. Shiv Sena is in power in Maharashtra in alliance with the Congress and the NCP.