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 To transport stranded migrant workers to their homes in the State

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday accepted Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s offer of 1,000 buses to transport stranded migrant workersto their homes in the State.

In an order signed by Awanish Awasthi, Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, the government communicated to Ms Vadra’s personal secretary that her proposal had been accepted.

Mr. Awasthi sought the names and other details of drivers for the 1,000 buses.

Also read: 25 migrant workers die in Uttar Pradesh road accident

The government’s decision came two days after Ms Vadra had written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath requesting him to allow the Congress to run 500 buses each from the Ghazipur border in Ghaziabad and the Noida border to transport migrant workers to their native places.

“All costs will be borne by the All India Congress Committee,” she wrote.

However, the government maintained silence and did not give her the required permission even as 500 buses from Bharatpur and Alwar in Rajasthan reached the Bahaj-Goverdhan border of the two States near Mathura.

Following this, on Sunday, Ms. Vadra issued a video statement appealing to Mr. Adityanath to grant permission to the buses deployed by the Congress. “This is not the time for politics. Our buses are standing at the border,” she said.

Ms. Vadra’s personal secretary Sandeep Singh wrote to Mr. Awasthi informing him that the party was ready to run the buses from Wednesday and  it had attached a list of bus drivers through email.
List not given: Adityanath

Earlier on Monday, Mr. Adityanath told a TV channel that his government was ready to provide permission to the Congress for the buses. He had asked the Congress for a list of the vehicles but was yet to get it.

He asked the Congress to not engage in “petty politics.” “In three days, we did not receive any list of buses,” he said.

Mr. Adityanath claimed that the two trucks involved in the Auraiya road accident, in which 25 migrant workers died, had come from Punjab and Rajasthan, both ruled by the Congress. Hefty amounts were taken from these migrant workers, he alleged.

After the U.P. government allowed her permission, Ms. Vadra thanked it on Twitter. However, she was yet to issue any details about the 1,000 buses. Congress sources in Lucknow said the party would soon submit a list.