The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday accused Arvind Kejriwal led AAP government in Delhi of playing petty politics, lying and spreading rumours, risking the lives of migrant workers at the time of a crisis as serious as the Coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by Indian Express.

The UP authorities stated that the Delhi authorities disconnected the water and electrical energy connections of individuals. “Throughout lockdown, individuals weren’t even supplied meals and milk in Delhi,” stated the report quoting UP govt sources. The UP authorities have also alleged that DTC buses dropped off individuals on the Delhi border within the title of assist.

The Delhi government spread unnecessary rumours by making announcements that there were buses at UP border ready to drop individuals to their locations, said the UP govt.

Basically, to do away with the migrant workers in the national capital amidst the pandemic, the AAP government allegedly spread the rumour that buses have been waiting at the UP borders to take them to their respective households. This impelled the mass exodus of these migrant labourers, now camping at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, in an attempt to return to their respective villages.

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The report said that the UP CM Yogi Adityanath has stayed up till late last night to overlook the arrangements in order to help these stranded migrants, mostly hailing from UP and Bihar, to return back to their respective homes as soon as possible.

Read: MHA issues advisory urging states, UTs to provide food, shelter to migrant labourers to stop mass exodus amid coronavirus lockdown

“Till late in the night, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was busy issuing instructions for arranging buses for the purpose,” the spokesman said, adding that the CM also directed officials to arrange for food and water for such people and their families. “At night, transportation officials, drivers and conductors were called from home,” said the statement, adding that 1,000 buses were arranged at night to bring back people stuck on the Delhi border.

On Saturday morning, senior police officers reached the Charbagh bus station in Lucknow to ensure that those arriving there were provided with food and water.

The buses later left for Kanpur, Ballia, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Faizabad, Basti, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Gonda, Etawah, Bahraich and Shravasti.

State’s DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthi and Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Kumar Pande, were personally present at the bus depot to monitor the arrangements, the spokesman added.

The Uttar Pradesh government has claimed that these migrant workers will be ferried home to their respective villages free of cost but will be screened for the novel coronavirus first.