Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel on Friday termed as "murder" the death of 16 migrant workers, who were run over by a goods train in Maharashtra while returning home on foot to their home in Madhya Pradesh amid the coronavirus lockdown

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP 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".

A group of 20 migrant workers returning to Madhya Pradesh were sleeping on the railway tracks near Karmad, around 30 km from Aurangabad, when 16 of them were crushed to death by a goods train. Four other migrant workers of the group survived the accident which took place at 5.15 am.

In a strongly-worded statement, Jaleel said the death of 16 migrant workers is a case of murder.

"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," the AIMIM MP 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 Aurangabad MP asked.

The Lok Sabha termed as "farce" the "comprehensive inquiry" ordered by the Railways. 

"Ram Kripal, Commissioner of Railway Safety, South Central Circle, will hold an independent inquiry into today's labourers runover incident in Parbhani-Manmad section of Nanded Railway division of South Central Railway," the Railway Ministry announced after the accident.

Jaleel 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.

The Centre has allowed trains to operate to carry migrant workers home from various cities. However, there are still migrant workers who are going back to their native places by foot or by other means.