Aurangabad railway accident | |
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Details | |
Date | 8 May 2020 05:15–06:30 hours (UTC+05:30) [1] [2] |
Coordinates | 19°52′33″N75°33′30″E / 19.87583°N 75.55833°E |
Country | India |
Operator | Indian Railways |
Owner | Indian Railways |
Cause | Death by impact |
Statistics | |
Trains | 1 |
Pedestrians | 17 |
Deaths | 16 |
Injured | 1 |
On the morning of 8 May 2020, an empty goods train ran over and killed 16 migrant workers sleeping on or by the tracks near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. One additional worker sleeping nearby was injured.
The Indian government announced a nationwide lockdown on 24 March to control the COVID-19 pandemic in India. This caused job losses for migrant workers in multiple cities, many of whom have no formal contracts. The government stopped train services, making it difficult for these labourers to travel home. Consequently, many of them had to walk home. [3]
A group of 20 labourers were walking from steel factories in Jalna, Maharashtra, to Bhusawal so that they could board a "Shramik Special" train to reach their homes in Umariya and Shahdol districts of Madhya Pradesh. [4] After walking 40 kilometres (25 mi) along a minor road, they reached the railway tracks at Badnapur at about 0330 hours on 8 May 2020. Exhausted, they slept on and near the tracks, believing that no trains were running due to the lockdown. [5]
An empty goods train from Cherlapally in Hyderabad was heading towards Paniwada in Maharashtra. The locomotive driver realised that people were laying on the tracks only 160 metres (520 ft) away from them. The train was moving at 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph), and despite applying the emergency brakes, it was unable to stop before hitting the workers. The 14 sleeping on the tracks were killed instantly, while three nearby were injured, two of whom later died in hospital. [5] Just four from the group of twenty survived, three of whom were sleeping away from the tracks. [6]
Indian Railways ordered an inquiry to be headed by the Commissioner of Railway Safety. [5] The Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh state governments announced ₹ 5 lakh (equivalent to ₹5.9 lakh,US$7,100 or €7,200 in 2023) as compensation for the relatives of the deceased victims. [7]
The bodies of the sixteen migrant labourers were moved to Jabalpur by two bogies attached to a special train. [6]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish and offered "all possible assistance". Rahul Gandhi asked why migrants were still walking home and stated that "we should be ashamed of treating the nation-builders like this". [7]
CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted, "the death of these poor labourers is solely due to the sudden announcement of a lockdown and denial of transport to them for weeks, while not providing a substantive relief package". He described the Central government's actions towards migrant workers as "criminal". [2] [7] CPI General Secretary D Raja said that "migrant workers are being treated in a most inhumane manner by the government". Terming the deaths a 'deliberate killing', he accused the government of having "practically left them to fend for themselves without any aid or help". [8]
Former Finance Minister and Indian National Congress member P. Chidambaram accused the Central and State governments of being oblivious of the fact that thousands of migrant workers were still walking back to their home states. [8] Shiv Sena minister Sandipan Bhumre and MLA Ambadas Danve met the survivor in hospital. [7]
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Central Railway is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. It has the distinction of operating the first passenger railway line in India, which opened from Mumbai to Thane on 16 April 1853.
Suresh Channabasappa Angadi was an Indian politician who served as the Union Minister of State for Railways of India from 30 May 2019 to 23 September 2020. He was Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from 2004 to September 2020. He was a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Karnataka.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is a Regionalist far-right Indian political party based in the state of Maharashtra and operates on the ideology of Hindutva and Marathi Manus. It was founded on 9 March 2006 in Mumbai by Raj Thackeray after he left the Shiv Sena party due to differences with his cousin Uddhav Thackeray, who later became the 19th Chief Minister Of Maharashtra and to his sidelining by the Shiv Sena in major decisions like distribution of election tickets.
The economy of the state of Maharashtra is the largest in India. Maharashtra is India's second most industrialised state contributing 20% of national industrial output. Almost 46% of the GSDP is contributed by industry. Maharashtra has software parks in many cities around the state, and is the second largest exporter of software with annual exports over ₹ 80,000 crores.
Labour in India refers to employment in the economy of India. In 2020, there were around 476.67 million workers in India, the second largest after China. Out of which, agriculture industry consist of 41.19%, industry sector consist of 26.18% and service sector consist 32.33% of total labour force. Of these over 94 percent work in unincorporated, unorganised enterprises ranging from pushcart vendors to home-based diamond and gem polishing operations. The organised sector includes workers employed by the government, state-owned enterprises and private sector enterprises. In 2008, the organised sector employed 27.5 million workers, of which 17.3 million worked for government or government owned entities.
The 2008 attacks on Uttar Pradeshi and Bihari migrants in Maharashtra began on 3 February 2008 after violent clashes between workers of two political parties—Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Samajwadi Party (SP)—at Dadar in Mumbai, capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The clashes took place when workers of MNS, a splinter faction formed out of the Shiv Sena, tried to attack workers of SP, the regional party based in Uttar Pradesh, who were proceeding to attend a rally organised by the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA). Defending his party's stand, MNS chief Raj Thackeray explained that the attack was a reaction to the "provocative and unnecessary show of strength" and "uncontrolled political and cultural dadagiri (bullying) of Uttar Pradeshi and Bihari migrants and their leaders".
Anti-Bihari sentiment refers to the large scale discrimination in India against Biharis. Bihar experienced slower economic growth compared to the rest of India, prompting many Biharis to migrate to other regions in search of better opportunities. Migrant workers from Bihar have often faced hostility and prejudice in these areas, with stereotypes portraying them as criminals, rapists, and traitors. Additionally, Biharis have been affected by anti-Hindi sentiment in non-Hindi speaking states, fueled by the perception that central government agencies favor Hindi over regional languages in national examinations and services.
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Events in the year 2020 in India.
The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. As of 24 July 2024, according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the world with 45,040,752 reported cases of COVID-19 infection and the third-highest number of COVID-19 deaths at 533,622 deaths. In October 2021, the World Health Organization estimated 4.7 million excess deaths, both directly and indirectly related to COVID-19 to have taken place in India.
The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Indian state of Maharashtra was confirmed on 9 March 2020.
COVID-19 Pandemic spread to Uttar Pradesh in March 2020. While the World Health Organization praised the UP government for its contact tracing efforts, there were several other issues in its management of the pandemic, including under reportage of cases by the government, vaccine shortages and dismal conditions of COVID-19 hospitals.
The first four cases of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh were confirmed on March 20, 2020. As of August 14, 2021, Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 791,998 cases, and has recorded 10,514 deaths.
The Indian state governments have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in India with various declarations of emergency, closure of institutions and public meeting places, and other restrictions intended to contain the spread of the virus.
The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in India has been largely disruptive. India's growth in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020 went down to 3.1% according to the Ministry of Statistics. The Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India said that this drop is mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic effect on the Indian economy. Notably, India had also been witnessing a pre-pandemic slowdown, and according to the World Bank, the current pandemic has "magnified pre-existing risks to India's economic outlook".
On the evening of 24 March 2020, the Government of India ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting the movement of the entire 1.38 billion population of India as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It was ordered after a 14-hour voluntary public curfew on 22 March, followed by enforcement of a series of regulations in COVID-19 affected countries. The lockdown was placed when the number of confirmed positive coronavirus cases in India was approximately 500. Upon its announcement, a mass movement of people across the country was described as the largest since the partition of India in 1947. Observers stated that the lockdown had slowed the growth rate of the pandemic by 6 April to a rate of doubling every six days, and by 18 April, to a rate of doubling every eight days. As the end of the first lockdown period approached, state governments and other advisory committees recommended extending the lockdown. The governments of Odisha and Punjab extended the state lockdowns to 1 May. Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Telangana followed suit. On 14 April, Prime minister Narendra Modi extended the nationwide lockdown until 3 May, on the written recommendation of governors and lieutenant governors of all the states, with conditional relaxations after 20 April for the regions where the spread had been contained or was minimal.
The first COVID-19 case in the Indian state of Bihar was reported in Munger on 22 March 2020, a 38-year-old tested positive for COVID-19, he was also the first victim. He had travel history to Qatar. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has confirmed a total of 62,031 cases as of 4 August 2020, including 20,922 active cases, 349 deaths and 40,760 recoveries. The virus has spread in 38 districts of the state, of which Patna district has the highest number of cases.
Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic have faced multiple hardships. With factories and workplaces shut down due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future. Following this, many of them and their families went hungry. Thousands of them then began walking back home, with no means of transport due to the lockdown. A study found that 43.3 million interstate migrants returned to their home during the first wave of Covid-19 led lockdowns and out of 43.3 million around 35 million walked home or used unusual means of transportation. In response, the Central and State Governments took various measures to help them, and later arranged transport for them. 198 migrant workers died due to the lockdown, with reasons of road accidents.