The inhumane act of Bareilly administration gave ammunition to opposition parties to attack the Yogi Adityanath government over the mishandling of coronavirus prevention and providing succour to thousands of migrant labourers on exodus from Delhi and NCR.
After maintaining studied silence, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati was the first to react on Monday and alleged that there were reports of atrocities on migrant workers.
Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Mayawati posted, “Reports and pictures of atrocities have become common in the media but punishing migrant workers by spraying insecticides in Bareilly is cruelty and inhumanity which is extremely condemnable. The government should immediately pay attention.”
Earlier, the BSP chief had hailed the financial package announced by the Centre during lockdown and said that arrangements be made for those who were travelling long distances on foot so that they could safely reach their homes and not be stranded.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav targeted the Yogi Adityanath government over spraying of migrant workers to sanitise them at Bareilly on Sunday.
“The spraying of chemicals on migrants to sanitise them raised some questions. Has the World Health Organisation given any direction in this regard? How do you treat burning sensation caused by chemicals? What arrangements are there for people to change out of wet clothes? What alternatives are being provided for food that gets wet due to spraying?,” Akhilesh tweeted also tagged the news report with his tweet.
On her part, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra raised the inhumane conduct of Bareilly authorities and asked the Yogi government to not spray chemicals on migrant workers who were already facing hardships.
Senior Congress leader Jitin Prasada also vented his ire on twitter, posting, “The entire nation stands united to fight the situation, but such actions on migrant workers is not acceptable. This will not protect them, but expose them to larger health hazards. Who is in-charge and how did the UP govt allow this to happen?”
