Bus Row: Priyanka's aide, UP Cong chief booked for 'forgery'

20:40 May 19

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's secretary were booked by police Tuesday after the state government said a list of 1,000 buses on which the party planned to ferry migrant workers contained registration numbers of autorickshaws, cars and trucks.

Also, records showed that many of the buses in the list did not have valid fitness certificates or insurance papers, the BJP government said, accusing the opposition party of playing with the lives of workers.

The FIR against Lallu and Sandeep Singh, who is Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's personal secretary, capped a day during which the party traded charges with the Yogi Adityanath government and held a protest at the Rajasthan-UP border.

The FIR charged Lallu, Singh and others under Indian Penal Code sections related to cheating and forging documents.

The Congress rejected the UP government claim on its list containing the numbers of other vehicles, challenging it to conduct a physical verification of the buses.

Later, a state government spokesman said about 100 vehicles on the Congress list were not buses.

Of the buses, 297 lacked either a fitness certificate or valid insurance papers. As the war of words escalated, UP Congress Chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and other party workers reached the Agra border, where they argued with policemen and staged a dharna.

Lallu was seen being carried away from the protest site to a car, with four policemen holding his arms and legs. A UP Congress spokesperson said he was taken to a police station in Agra.

(PTI Report)

20:31 May 19

Delhi Cong writes to Kejriwal, offers to run 300 buses at borders for migrants

Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary on Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, offering to deploy 300 buses at borders of the national capital to ferry back migrant workers to their respective states.

Chaudhary also said that expense of these buses will be borne by the Congress' Delhi unit.

In his letter to Kejriwal, the Delhi Congress chief expressed grief about the ongoing problems being faced by the migrant workers due to COVID-19 lockdown.  

"Thousands of migrant workers residing in Delhi are moving back to their respective states. We are sad that they are returning home on foot and several have been killed in accidents," the letter read.

He said the Congress will arrange 300 buses from some schools and other sources which are currently not functional due to lockdown.

"The Congress wants to run 300 buses from several borders of Delhi, and its expense will be borne by the party' Delhi unit. Allow us to run 300 buses to ferry migrant workers to their homes. We are arranging these buses from some schools and other sources which are not functional due to lockdown," the letter read.

20:15 May 19

After Congress leaders staged protests at Rajasthan-UP border, police arrested regional party head Ajay Kumar Lallu from the spot.

Meanwhile, Congress workers in Noida arranged more buses for migrant workers. The buses were arranged and parked at Sector 94 flyover, where a huge number of party workers and police personnel were present.

19:09 May 19

Dinesh Sharma

Deputy CM of Uttar Pradesh Dinesh Sharma has alleged that the Congress party has been committing a fraud against stranded migrant labourers in the state.

"The Congress party claimed to have arranged buses for migrant workers but the list of vehicles they submitted with the state government showed three-wheelers and two-wheelers in it," he said.

He further accused the Congress government of trying to malign the reputation of Yogi government.

18:42 May 19

Letter Sent to Chief Secretary seeking permission to pass the buses from Rajasthan-UP border which have been stranded there from past 3 hours.

18:29 May 19

Why thousands of buses not utilised to send migrants home: Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said on Tuesday that the people were wondering why thousands of buses were not being used by the Uttar Pradesh government to send the stranded migrant workers to their homes.

"The common people are wondering why the thousands of government buses, private buses and school buses are gathering dust, and not being utilised in sending the stranded migrant labourers to their homes," Yadav tweeted. "What kind of stubbornness is this?"

"Using force instead of buses is wrong," he added.

18:28 May 19

UP Govt for doing 'Cheap politics' after row over buses to ferry migrant workers: Surjewala

TheCongress Party on Tuesday, slammed Uttar Pradesh Government for doing 'cheap and petty politics' by not allowing movement of 1000 buses, arranged by the party, to ferry stranded migrant labourers from the Delhi-UP border.

While addressing press conference, Congress Chief Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "If farmers are the provider of food, workers are nation builders. When all means of transportation have been suddenly stopped, it is the responsibility of Yogi Adityanath-government to bring home our millions of labourers who are walking. When Congress is providing 1000 buses towards this cause, UP Government is doing petty politics by causing trouble and hindrances in our way."

18:25 May 19

18:24 May 19

18:15 May 19

Some time later, Congress leaders from Agra and Bharatpur gathered in the area and staged a sit-in on the road. The party members shouted slogans against the Yogi government and the Uttar Pradesh Police.

18:10 May 19

These buses that were meant to transport migrant workers were stopped at Rajasthan-Uttar Pradesh border by police officials who not only blocked the roads but also asked the vehicles of ministers of Rajasthan to return back. It is to be reported that Agra Police SP Ravi Kumar was deployed in the area.

17:54 May 19

Congress sends buses to Agra border, local administration resists entry into the state

The Congress party on Tuesday sent buses to transport migrant workers from UP to their native states. However, the local administration resisted their entry into the state, adding that they did not receive any such information from higher authorities.

13:32 May 19

Now Congress seeks more time to get buses ready

The Congress seems to getting caught in its own trap on the issue of sending 1,000 buses to carry migrants from UP border to their destinations.

Sandeep Singh, personal secretary to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has sent another letter to Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avanish Awasthi, saying that it would be possible for the party to get the buses by 5 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Awasthi had asked the Congress to deploy 500 buses each in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad by noon.

The Congress had repeatedly claimed that its buses were waiting on the border for permission to carry the migrants.

Sandeep Singh, in his letter, said that it would take more time since buses are coming from Rajasthan.

The party is already being cornered by the Yogi government since its list of buses submitted to the state government includes registration numbers of autos, scooters, cars and goods carriers.

13:25 May 19

Buses arranged by Congress party are currently stationed at UP-Rajasthan border

13:24 May 19

Buses to reach Noida, Ghaziabad by 5 pm: Cong to UP govt

Soon after the Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary Avneesh Kumar Avasthi asked Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to handover the 1,000 buses to Ghaziabad and Noida District Magistrate by 12 noon, the Congress said that it will handover the buses by 5 p.m. and many of the buses were stationed on the Uttar Pradesh-Rajasthan border and in Delhi.

In a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary, Priyanka Gandhi's personal aide Sandeep Singh said, "We received your letter at 11.05 a.m. to handover the buses at Ghaziabad and Noida. As a number of buses are in Delhi and Rajasthan, the process of taking permits is going on. So, will need some more time to get the permit for these buses."

"As per your request the buses will be handed over to the state government by 5 p.m.," he said. He also asked the state government to prepare the list of passengers and the routes for these buses so that there is no more delay in starting the services. He also said that it will be a historic step by the Uttar Pradesh government and the Congress to help the stranded migrant workers on humanitarian grounds and by keeping the political ambitions at bay.

The politics over providing 1,000 buses to the Uttar Pradesh government to transport the stranded migrant workers once again heated up on Tuesday morning as the state government asked Priyanka Gandhi, who is also the in-charge for the eastern Uttar Pradesh to send 500 buses each to Ghazaibad and Noida by 12 noon.

The development came soon after Awasthi in a letter to Priyanka Gandhi's aide said, "As you don't want to send the buses to Lucknow, and want to handover the buses at Ghaziabad or Noida borders. So please handover 500 buses to the Ghaziabad District Magistrate by 12 noon."

He also said that the Ghaziabad District Magistrate has been apprised of the development and he will receive those buses which will be used for transporting the stranded migrant workers.

Awasthi further said that the buses needed to be sent to the Ghazaiabd's Kaushambi and Sahibabad bus depots. The Additional Chief Secretary further said that the remaining 500 buses need to be sent to the Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate near the Expo mart in Noida. He said the administration will check the fitness, permits and other documents of the buses and then use it immediately.

Earlier in the day, the Congress had brought the buses at the state's border in Agra's Nagla point. However, after the Additional Chief Secretary's directions to bring the buses to Noida and Ghaziabad, the Congress alleged that the buses were not being allowed to move from Agra by the local administration.

A senior Congress functionary said that when 500 buses have reached Uttar Pradesh borders then the local administration is saying that they do not have any information regarding the same. "They are not allowing the buses to go further. On the one hand Additional Chief Secretary Avneesh Kumar Awasthi is saying to bring the buses to Ghaziabad and Noida and othe other hand we are not being allowed to enter Uttar Pradesh from Agra. What is happening? Isn't it a dictatorship?" the Congress leader questioned. 

12:36 May 19

Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday accused the Congress President of committing fraud against migrant workers stranded here in wake of the lockdown.

"We have done preliminary inquiry & it has come to surface that out of the buses for which they sent details, many are turning out to be 2-wheelers, autos & goods carriers, BJP minister Sidharth Nath Singh said, adding that "It's unfortunate and Sonia Gandhi should answer why they are committing this fraud."

11:48 May 19

UP govt asks Priyanka Gandhi to provide buses to DMs of Ghaziabad, Noida

The Uttar Pradesh government Tuesday asked Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to provide buses for carrying migrants to the district magistrates of Ghaziabad and Noida, as the war of words over the issue seemed to be subsiding.

In a letter written to Vadra's private secretary, UP's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said, "As per your letter dated May 19, you have expressed your inability to provide buses in Lucknow, and want to provide them in Ghaziabad and Noida."

"Please provide 500 buses to the District Magistrate, Ghaziabad, by 12.00 noon. The DM Ghaziabad has been informed about this. The district administration will receive all the buses and utilise them, he said.  

The buses should be provided at Kaushambi and Sahibabad bus stands, he said in the letter.

He also said, "500 buses should be provided to the District Magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar at the ground near the Expo Mart."

Directions have been issued to the district magistrates to utilise the buses immediately after checking the permit, fitness, insurance, driving licences of the drivers and details of the conductors, Awasthi said. 

11:43 May 19

11:43 May 19

11:40 May 19

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on May 17th urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to allow the party ferry migrant labourers back home in buses arranged by it and kept ready at the state border.

She made the appeal in a video message posted on Twitter, a day after 24 migrant workers were killed and 36 injured when a trailer rammed into a stationary truck, both carrying passengers, on a highway near Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh.

10:45 May 19

Government playing politics over Congress' offer to provide buses for migrants: Priyanka

Additional Chief Secretary Avneesh Kumar Awasthi's letter to Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary

New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's office on Tuesday said the Uttar Pradesh government has demanded that the 1,000 buses the party wants to ply for ferrying migrant labourers back to the state be handed over in Lucknow this morning and alleged that the move is politically motivated.

It also alleged that the demand shows that the UP government lacks the intention to help those stranded at the state's borders.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday had accepted the Congress' offer to run 1,000 buses to bring migrant labourers back to the state, a proposal which had triggered a war of words between the two sides.

In a letter to Additional Chief Secretary Avneesh Kumar Awasthi, Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary Sandeep Singh said a letter was received from the UP official at 11.40 am via email, in which it has been stated that 1,000 buses with all documents be handed over at Lucknow by 10 am on Tuesday.

"In a situation when thousands of workers are walking on the streets and thousands of people have gathered at the UP borders at various registration centres, sending 1,000 empty buses to Lucknow is not only a waste of time and resources but is also inhuman and the product of an anti-poor mindset," Singh said in the letter in Hindi.

"This demand of your government seems politically motivated. It does not seem that your government wants to help our labourer brothers and sisters who are facing a disaster," the letter said.

The state government had asked Priyanka Gandhi, who had made the offer, to provide it with a list of buses along with the names of their drivers and conductors.

Subsequently, her private secretary Singh had given details of the buses and its drivers to the UP government in an email.

"All details of the 1,000 buses are attached with this e-mail. Out of them, a few drivers will be reverified and those details will also be mailed to you in a few hours. I hope you will give permission for those buses to ply as soon as possible," Singh had said in the communication to the UP government on Monday.

The Congress leader had recently written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking permission to run 1,000 buses at her party's expense.

The party had then accused the BJP-run UP government of ignoring the offer.

"The offer made to the chief minister through the letter on May 16 in connection with migrant labourers has been accepted," Additional Chief Secretary Awasthi (Home and Information) had said in a letter to Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary.

A little later on Twitter, Priyanka Gandhi, who is the Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, had thanked Adityanath.

"Thank you for allowing us to run 1,000 buses at the expense of the Congress to help thousands of brothers and sisters walking on the roads in Uttar Pradesh," she had tweeted in Hindi.

She had said the Congress will stand with these people during the difficult time they face.

In a television interview earlier on Monday, Adityanath accused the Congress of playing politics over the plight of migrant workers.

Singh in his letter on Tuesday also expressed surprise at the chief minister, saying his government was demanding the details of buses since the last three days and asserted that the details were provided immediately after the letter from the UP government was received in this regard.

Inputs from PTI