NHRC issues notices to home secretary, railways, Gujarat, Bihar over migrants deaths

NEW DELHI: The national human rights commission on Thursday served notices to chief secretaries of Gujarat and Bihar, the chairman of the railway board and Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla over media reports of hardships faced by migrant labourers on-board what the NHRC referred to as "misdirected special trains".
The rights panel demanded their response in four weeks about steps taken to ensure basic facilities and including medical help for migrant labourers who boarded trains.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the difficulties faced by the migrant labourers, the NHRC notices said people were forced to travel without water, food and basic facilities, resulting in widespread sickness and several deaths.
At least nine persons have died on board the Shramik Special trains during their travel home. The government has maintained the deaths occurred due to existing illnesses. TOI had reported on Thursday that a 4-year old was among the 7 people who died on shramik special trains in 48 hours. Photographs and videos of a toddler trying to wake his dead mother on a railway station were also circulated widely on Wednesday. The government, however, said the woman was mentally unstable and ill and that her death was not triggered by starvation.
In a statement, the NHRC observed that the "state has failed to protect the lives of the poor labourers onboard the trains". The rights commission said the trains were not only starting late but were also taking "many additional days to reach (their) destination."
"In one of the reports, it is alleged that many migrant labourers lost lives during their journey by train due to longer duration and no arrangements for drinking water and food etc. In another incident, a train reportedly started from Surat district in Gujarat for Siwan in Bihar on May 16 and reached Bihar on May 25, after nine days," the rights panel said.