Rajasthan Bus Drivers Deployed By Congress Allege They Were Sent Forcefully, Haven’t Got Food, Water In 36 Hours

The bus drivers deployed by Congress workers at the Uttar Pradesh (UP)-Rajasthan border to bring back migrants to their native places, have alleged that they have not been given food and water since Tuesday (19 May).

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Satish Poonia shared a video on his Twitter handle in which a bus driver is seen complaining that "There is no arrangement for food and water and the story remains same for all drivers standing besides the parked buses. Amid scorching sun, we have been sitting inside our buses which seem to have become a furnace," he said.

This driver further said that he is a BP patient and has not taken his medicine since morning.

"The RTO officials gave me wrong job description. Initially, I was asked to go Alwar then officials told me to take the bus to Bharatpur. Now, I am stuck here since yesterday for 36 hours with no food and water, he said.

"Since morning, have not taken my BP medicine too," he complained.

Poonia, in another tweet, accused the Congress of playing politics by misusing its resources.

"Migrants are absconding from scene but bus drivers have been brought under pressure and those who are standing here are starving while cursing the state government," he tweeted tagging Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.

Poonia further shared a picture of a fleet of buses parked at the border in his tweet and said that "these buses waiting for migrants expose lies of Priyanka Gandhi. The migrants have walked off on foot waiting for buses while Rajasthanis stuck in different parts are still waiting for 4,000 buses to be run by chief minster Ashok Gehlot," he said.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in his tweet said, "The state government understood the pain of the workers returning home on foot and sent them through trains and buses, as well as arranged camps and food etc for them. Due to this, the number of workers walking home has come down considerably."

"We had given the task of making these arrangements to the subdivision officers, and they worked diligently. Due to these camps, workers are now reaching their destinations by bus and train instead of walking," he said in another tweet.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)