Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel of
All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Friday termed as "murder" the death of 16 migrant workers, who were run over by a goods train in Maharashtra.
He also demanded that criminal cases be filed against the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the Railway Ministry and the Maharashtra government for "ignoring the plight of thousands of stranded workers".
Sixteen migrant workers sleeping on rail tracks while returning to Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district on Friday. Four other migrant workers survived in the accident, which took place at 5.15 am near Karmad, around 30 kms from Aurangabad, police said.
"The death of 16 migrant workers is a case of murder," Jaleel alleged in a statement issued here.
"Criminal offences should be registered against the PMO, the Railway Ministry and the state government for ignoring the plight thousands of the stranded workers," he said.
"I had personally tweeted to the PMO, the railway ministry and Maharashtra Chief Minister (Uddhav Thackeray) the video footages of migrants either walking or cycling all the way to their respective states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal or Jharkhand. But they were completely ignored," he said.
"The government has been a mute spectator to the sufferings of the poor, who just wanted to go back to their families," he said.
"If the government can prepare airline schedules to bring back the stranded Indians from abroad, then why can't it arrange either trains or buses to ferry its own people in the country?" the MP asked.
He added that thousands of migrants are still stranded in Aurangabad and they should be sent back to their respective states at the earliest by arranging special trains.
He also termed as "farce" the inquiry ordered by the railway ministry into the accident.
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