UP government responds to Priyanka Gandhi's proposal, asks Congress to send 500 buses each to Noida and Ghaziabad

New Delhi: The Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh has accepted Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi's proposal to run 1,000 buses to bring migrant workers stranded in other parts of the country due to coronavirus lockdown back to their homes.

In response to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s offer, Additional Chief Secretary Avneesh Kumar Awasthi has written another letter to the Congress leader on Tuesday, asking for 500 buses each to be sent to Noida and Ghaziabad that border Delhi.

These buses will be received by District Magistrates of Noida and Ghaziabad respectively that border Delhi.  

The Uttar Pradesh government, while accepting Priyanka Gandhi's video proposal to provide 1,000 buses to take migrant workers home, had set certain riders which the Congress party said were unacceptable.

The Congress party sourced the buses from Rajasthan, where the party is in power.

In a letter to the UP government, Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary Sandeep Singh had called the move "totally influenced by politics" and questioned what purpose would be served in making the buses travel empty from the state's borders, where they are right now, to Lucknow for a formal handover. 

Priyanka Gandhi had posted her appeal to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Twitter after a string of accidents involving migrant workers in the state, including one on Saturday in the state's Auraiya district, where 26 workers died in a truck accident.

The UP government had then said no worker would be allowed to walk, cycle or take trucks to get home. This led to a pile-up pf worker at the state's border.

In her appeal, Priyanka Gandhi said, "Respected Chief Minister, I am requesting you, this is not the time for politics. Our buses are standing at the border. Thousands of labourers and migrants are walking towards their homes without food or water and after fighting all troubles. Let us help them. Give permission to our buses." Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said.

.@myogiadityanath जी महामारी के समय इंसान की जिंदगी को बचाना, गरीबों की रक्षा करना, उनकी गरिमा की हिफाजत करना हमारा नैतिक दायित्व और अधिकार है।

कांग्रेस इस कठिन समय में अपनी पूरी क्षमता और सेवाव्रत के साथ अपने कर्तव्यों का पालन कर रही है।

ये बसें हमारी सेवा का विस्तार हैं। 1/3 — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) May 18, 2020

..हमें उप्र में पैदल चलते हुए हजारों भाई-बहनों की मदद करने के लिए, कांग्रेस के खर्चे पर 1000 बसों को चलवाने की इजाजत देने के लिए आपको धन्यवाद।

आपको उप्र कांग्रेस की तरफ से मैं आश्वस्त करती हूँ कि हम सकारात्मक भाव से महामारी और उसके चलते लॉकडाउन की वजह से पीड़ित उप्र के..2/3

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) May 18, 2020

.. अपने भाई-बहनो के साथ इस संकट का सामना करने के लिए खड़े रहेंगे। 3/3 — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) May 18, 2020

Soon after accepting Priyanka Gandhi's offer, Yogi Adityanath asked states for details on migrants and claimed his government was organizing 12,000 buses to get them workers home from different state borders.