Ajit Pawar urges migrants to be patient, avoid risky journeys

Terming the death of migrants in a

train accident as "painful", Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday urged labourers to have patience and not undertake risky journeys to their home states.

At least 16 migrant workers sleeping on rail tracks while returning to Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra in the early hours of Friday.

Only four migrant workers survived in the accident, which took place at 5.15 am near Karmad, around 30 km from Aurangabad, police said.

"The incident is painful. It is disturbing to see how desperate migrant workers in Maharashtra are to return to their home states," Pawar said in a statement.

 

Pawar, who is also the state's Finance Minister, said the Maharashtra government was working on war footing to send migrant workers to their native states and this was being done with cooperation from the Centre and other state governments.

"Workers should wait till their turn comes and arrangements are made (to ensure their return). They should not risk their lives travelling in an unsafe manner," he said.

Everyone will be able to return home in phases and there was no need to hurry, Pawar said.

The state government had arranged for food, water, accommodation and medical facilities of 6.5 lakh migrant workers, the Deputy Chief Minister said.

Accidents like this, at a time when the state government was doing its best to take care of migrant labourers, was unfortunate and painful, he said.