UP government agrees to take over 1,000 buses from Congress for ferrying migrants

LUCKNOW/NOIDA: Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday morning asked Congress to hand over 1,000 buses to the state government for ferrying migrants. 500 buses are to be handed over to district magistrate of Ghaziabad and the other 500 to the district magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar.
On May 16, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi had sought permission from the Yogi Adityanath government to ferry migrant workers to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh in the buses. The Congress workers said they have made arrangements for 1,000 buses at the inter-state border between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and the resources could be deployed to help the migrant workers.

On Monday noon, additional chief secretary of UP government, Awanish Kumar Awasthi wrote back to Gandhi and sought details about the 1,000 buses. Following exchange of four more letters between the two sides, on Tuesday morning Awasthi asked Gandhi (through her personal secretary Sandeep Singh) to make arrangements to drop the buses at Kaushambi in Ghaziabad and Expo Mart in Greater Noida.
Administrative officials in the two districts have been given directions to examine the documents such as registration certificate, fitness certificate and driving license of the drivers, before putting the buses provided by Congress to use. District magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar, Suhas LY said that a team would be constituted to examine the documents before buses are deployed. Meanwhile, instructions are being issued to police personnel manning the borders in Ghaziabad and Noida to allow such buses on the basis of the registration number provided by the Congress workers.