UP govt didn’t treat victims with dignity: Hemant

Bokaro: The total number of victims from Bokaro district who died in Saturday’s road accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district increased to 11. Chief minister Hemant Soren, while announcing Rs 4 lakh compensation each to the kin of the deceased, expressed concern over the undignified manner meted out to the deceased and the injured by UP police. Soren also announced Rs 50,000 to five of the injured from the district.
A total of 26 migrant workers were killed and 36 injured when the trailer they were travelling in hit a truck that had stopped near an eatery along the highway in Auraiya district at about 3.15am on Saturday. Majority of the victims belonged to Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The stranded workers from Bokaro were returning home from Rajasthan, where they worked in marble mines.
In his tweet to his UP counterpart Yogi Adityanath, Soren said it was “shameful” that the state could not even arrange an ambulance for the deceased. Retweeting the video of a survivor, Vikas, who cited how the bodies were dumped on a truck to send them home along with the injured in the same vehicle, the CM wrote, “This inhumane treatment of our migrant workers could possibly be avoided. I request @UPGovt & Office of @NitishKumar ji to arrange suitable transportation of the deceased bodies till Jharkhand border & we will ensure adequate dignified arrangements to their homes in Bokaro.”
Soren then directed DGP MV Rao and Bokaro DC Mukesh Kumar to make necessary arrangements for treatment of the injured and transportation of bodies till their homes in a dignified manner.
The deceased migrants, all below 30 years from Bokaro, were from three villages — Kheera Beda, Gopalpur and Babudih. The bodies were expected to reach here by late evening.
A team of state Congress party functionaries led by its co-working president Rajesh Thakur visited the villages on Sunday to express condolences to family members of the deceased. Thakur assured the family members of the government compensation soon. Talking to media, he said, “As an interim relief, the district administration is giving Rs 20,000 per family and ration. The state government will soon make a formal announcement of compensation.”