Lives in Aurangabad could have been saved if govt had made arrangements: NHRC

The lives of migrant labourers, who were killed in a train accident in Aurangabad while walking to their native places, could have been saved if arrangements had been made for their shelter or halt during their journey, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Friday as it sought a report from Maharashtra government on the incident.

In its preliminary observations, it said the mishap could be termed as a train accident as normally it is not expected by anyone that some people will be sleeping on the railway tracks.

"However, the crucial aspect is that the poor labourers, who were already facing many hardships amid countrywide lockdown, were forced to walk on foot for a very long distance due to non-availability of any mode of transport, lost their lives due to apparent negligence by the district administration. Had some arrangements been made for their shelter or halt during their tiring journey, the painful tragedy could be averted," the NHRC said.

The NHRC had recently observed that there is a need for the government agencies to deal with the situation arising out of country wide lockdown, very sensibly, particularly the people belonging to vulnerable sections of the society. "Death of poor migrant labourers is such a painful tragedy and is indeed an issue of violation of human rights," it said.

The Chief Secretary and District Magistrate of Aurangabad have been asked to submit reports within four weeks about the steps taken by the state and the district authorities to provide food, shelter and other basic amenities to the poor people, especially the migrant labourers, who are facing extreme difficulties from every angle.

The details of the relief and rehabilitation provided to the victim labourers and their dependents along with status of the medical treatment provided to the injured is also required to be given in the report.

The workers, who were walking to Bhusawal from Jalna to board a “Shramik Special” train to return to Madhya Pradesh, were sleeping on the railway line when the mishap occurred between Badnapur and Karmad stations in Nanded Division. Around 20 workers were walking from Jalna to Bhusawal, which is about 150 kilometers. They stopped after walking for about 45 kilometers to take some rest and fell asleep on the tracks.

At around 5:15 AM, a goods train ran over them. The loco pilot had noticed some persons along the tracks. He honked and also tried to stop the train but failed to contain the speed before hitting the victims lying on the tracks.