Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the Maharashtra government should give permission to private vehicles for ferrying migrant labourers to their native places during the lockdown.
Raising concern over migrant workers setting off for their hometowns on foot, Raut said they were falling sick and some have also died.
"The labour class is walking back home, this is not a good picture. Their children are with them. Railways is not ready to operate trains for them. The state government should give permission to private vehicles to ply," Raut tweeted.
"People are falling ill while walking. Some have died. Even then their walking hasn't stopped, the Rajya Sabha member further said.
Sixteen 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.
The labourers, rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, had set off for their homes on foot along the rail tracks apparently to escape police attention.
On March 28, four migrant labourers were crushed to death when a speeding tempo ran over them on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in Maharashtra's Palghar district.
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