Uttar Pradesh: While accusing the Yogi Adityanath led-Uttar Pradesh government of playing “petty politics over the sufferings of migrants” by denying permission to 1000 buses arranged by the Congress party to ferry migrants back home amid lockdown, Congress leader Zubair Khan said that they will wait with the buses at the UP border till 4 pm on Wednesday.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Zubair Khan said, “They should feel ashamed for playing petty politics over the misery and suffering of poor migrants...Our vehicles will be parked at the UP border till Wednesday evening hoping that the “plight of the migrants strikes the former’s conscience”.
The Uttar Pradesh government had denied permission to the Congress to ply vehicles for transporting migrants alleging that the list of buses submitted by the party has registration numbers of scooters, three-wheelers and goods carriers.
“Looking at the plight of the migrant workers Priyanka Gandhi Vadra being the eastern UP general secretary of the Congress party, decided to provide 1,000 buses for them at the party’s expense to ensure safe travel back home for these migrants...we took 500 buses, but were stopped at the Bharatpur-Mathura border and were denied permission to go any further, so we came back,” said Khan.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress in-Charge added, “On Monday we got a letter from the UP Additional Secretary granting us permission to ferry migrants to UP by our 1000 buses. So we lined the buses at the Agra border on Tuesday morning at around 11 and waited till about 6:30 in the evening waiting for a go-head from the government, and then finally were denied permission at 6:30 pm.”
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Stressing that the UP government itself has admitted that out of the 1000 buses, around 870-875 buses bear genuine registration numbers, Khan further questioned the decision behind the denial of permission.
“The transport department may have found some inconsistencies with the record of the vehicles. The administration itself is admitting that 870 - 875 buses bear genuine numbers. So why isn’t permission being granted to ply them...this is a humanitarian crisis and permission must be granted to at least those vehicles which do not have any problem with the registration number to help migrants reach home,” said Khan.
Further clarifying that the Congress party doesn’t seek to “politicise” the issue or “gain political mileage” out of the transportation of migrants, Khan said, “Had we wanted to gain political mileage out of this we would have put up party posters, hoardings, and pictures of our leaders on the buses to publicise them...BJP wants to politicise everything, every issue, but we genuinely want to help the poor migrants.”
