MUMBAI: The “government” was responsible for the death of 16 migrant labourers 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, Samanaa said.
“The labourers were in fine health and had no symptoms of coronavirus and still they died. The responsibility of their death lieswith the government,” the editorial said.
“Lockdown was enforced to ensure people are safe from coronavirus. But poor labourers are dying of hunger due to the lockdown,” it said.
The labourers who died on the railway track were victims of the pandemic and not an accident, it asserted.
The plight faced by migrant labourers 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.
