Sixteen people were killed when they were run over by a freight train near Maharashtra’s Aurangabad early on Friday morning as they slept on train tracks after a long journey on foot in a desperate attempt to find transport to go back to their home towns hundreds of kilometres away in Madhya Pradesh.
The victims were in a group of 20 people who left Jalna for their villages the previous evening after deciding to no longer wait for their employer – a company running a steel factory – to pay their wages.These migrant workers did not have jobs, and sometimes food, for over a month as factories remained shut due to the nationwide lockdown in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“We tried to get passes for the special trains but did not get help from any of the authorities. Finally we started walking at around 7pm on Thursday and slept on the train tracks. We were so tired that we could not even discuss about the risk of sleeping on the tracks,” Virendra Singh, one of the survivors, told local media at Aurangabad’s Ghati Hospital.
“The contractor had assured payment on May 7 but later said he was not in a condition to do so,” he said.
The group had walked some 36kms, at first on the roads before they moved to the tracks to avoid being stopped by police.
Singh was one of the four survivors who slept on a clearing next to the tracks, while the others slept on the rails when a freight train with empty wagons for petroleum products ran them over around 5.20am. “Two of the others and I tried to warn the victims but were unable to awaken them on time,” he said.
District officials said they are now focussing on sending the bodies of the victims home by the special trains that they had been hoping to board.
“The case is being investigated by the police, but our priority is sending the bodies back. They are being sent by a special Shramik train departing for Jabalpur on Friday evening,” said Sanjeev Jadhavar, resident deputy collector, Aurangabad.
Tens of thousands of people have been walking home from big cities and industrial hot spots after being laid off because of the lockdown in force since late March. There have been reports that some others like the victims have been killed in road accidents.
While the victims of Friday’s fatal incident did not have the requisite documents to obtain a pass, the other reason why migrant workers have been making the punishing journeys on foot or bicycles is a reluctance by their home states to accept them. Officials in Telangana have decided this week to scrap dozens of requests for special trains after destination states for such travellers did not give the necessary approvals to allow the journey.
The Union government has allowed special trains — called Shramik trains — to be requested if the origin as well as the destination states agree on the travel, which many regions fear could also fuel the spread of Covid-19.
A senior Railways safety official in Delhi said the victims in Friday’s accident had fallen asleep on the tracks believing there would be no train on the route. The engineer of the locomotive spotted the people and used the train’s horns, but was not able to stop on time.
Mokshada Patil, superintendent of police, Aurangabad rural, said investigation was being carried out on the basis of the information given by the survivors.
“All of them were working at SRJ Steels in Jalna, about 35 km from the accident spot, and had started on Thursday evening. They were heading towards Aurangabad to check for any travelling facility back to their home state. They had planned to walk up to Manmad (about 130 km from Aurangabad), a rail junction, to catch a train,” he said.
Jalna, one of the eight districts in Central Maharashtra, is known for steel industries and labourers from MP, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar migrate to the town for daily-wage jobs that fetch between ~400-~600 a day.
The steel factories employ them through contractors without any security of health services and life-accidental insurance, said an official from the Jalna district collector.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish over the deaths. “Have spoken to Railway minister Piyush Goyal and he is closely monitoring the situation. All possible assistance required is being provided,” he said in a tweet.
“Shocked by the deaths of migrant workers hit by train. We should be ashamed of how we treat our nation-builders,” said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Maharashthra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray appealed to migrant workers to not risk their lives by heading home on foot and that there will be more trains arranged. Thackeray also announced an ex-gratia of ~5 lakh each to the families of the victims from the chief minister relief fund.
“I have just heard the sad news about labourers coming under the train, rescue work is underway,” railway minister Piyush Goyal said on Twitter.