Migrants given chemical wash in UP
Lucknow, March 30
Bareilly District Magistrate Nitish Kumar today promised action against those responsible for spraying migrant workers returning from Delhi and Gautam Buddha Nagar with diluted sodium hypochlorite, a component used in bleaching powder, on the pretext of sanitising them.
Will act against those responsible
Bareilly MC and Fire Brigade team was directed to sanitise bus stands. However, this happened due to their overzealousness. Action will be taken against those responsible.— Nitish Kumar, Bareilly District magistrate
The DM’s reaction came after a video went viral showing a team of Bareilly health workers on Sunday making migrants, including women and children, sit on the street near the satellite bus station while the chemical was sprayed on them. Congress general secretary Priyanaka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: “Please do not display such inhuman behaviour.” Similarly, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the act.
The Centre said the DM had taken local officials to task. “They were clearly being overzealous either out of fear or ignorance,” a Health Ministry spokesman said.
Mohd Afzal, one of the migrants, said 50 of them were told to sit on the street by officials who assured them of providing food and transportation before the chemical was sprayed on them. “The children started crying and women were in shock,” he said. — TNS
Child rights panel seeks report
New Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has demanded disciplinary and penal action against officials responsible for the act. The NCPCR has asked the Bareilly DM to submit a report within three days. PTI
