In MP, eight more migrants die in mishaps

A group of 20 migrants had boarded the truck at Bhopal and were on their way to Sidharth Nagar in Uttar Pradesh. The overloaded vehicle was returning from a textile unit in Budhni in Madhya Pradesh.

Buxwaha police station in-charge R N Tiwari told The Indian Express that the driver was allegedly drunk and was among the injured. He and the cleaner had charged Rs 1,000 each from the travellers.

Five of the migrants died on the spot and one on the way to a hospital. The injured persons were treated at Banda in Sagar district and those critical were referred to the district hospital in Sagar.

In Guna district, a tempo carrying a family trying to reach Dharavi in Mumbai overturned while avoiding a bike. Sharafat Ali, 45, died while 11 others were injured, two of them seriously, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Shivani Garg said. The family was returning from Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh, where it had been stuck due to the lockdown.

In Barwani district, Aniket Thakur (22), a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, was killed when a vehicle rammed into the back of the the truck he was traveling in. The incident happened near Gavghati on the Agra-Mumbai Road in the afternoon.

Nagalwadi Police Station in-charge Majhar Khan said the truck was carrying 45 migrant labourers from Mumbai to Azamgarh.

More than 25 migrants have lost their lives in road accidents in Madhya Pradesh in recent days.

MP seeks advance notice from states

The state government on Saturday wrote to Chief Ministers of seven states seeking advance intimation of the movement of migrant workers.

“Though we are arranging food, vehicles and medicines free of cost to the migrants, the system falls apart because we don’t get to know how many are reaching MP, at what time and by what means (of transport),’’ Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wrote to his counterparts in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

“In the absence of advance intimation, many workers arrive simultaneously, derailing the arrangement. Many workers get disturbed and create law and order situation. They themselves suffer due to this,’’ said Chouhan, highlighting the lack of coordination between the states. On Saturday, he asked collectors to ensure that workers travelling on overloaded trucks are made to get off, and vehicles arranged for their onward journey.