Following the media reports that said that the list of buses provided by Congress to ferry migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh was erroneous and included autos, trucks and two-wheelers, the Uttar Pradesh government has officially acknowledged that the data they received from the Congress party indeed include details of such vehicles. According to a letter written by the Lucknow RTO department to Police Commissionerate Lucknow, a staggering 170 vehicles out of the list of 1049 are not buses as claimed by the Congress party.
The letter addressed to the Police Commissionerate Lucknow categorises the different types of vehicles based on the list of buses provided by the Congress party. The analysis of the 1049 registration details of the vehicles revealed that 31 of them were registered as autos/three-wheelers, 69 of them as ambulances/school buses/trucks and there were no details available for 70 vehicles. Furthermore, it added that a vehicle with registration number RJ 51 PA 0288 was added in two lists.
In addition, the preliminary inspection of 492 vehicles provided in the list of buses sent by the Congress party revealed that fitness validity of 59 vehicles has expired, while insurance of 29 vehicles have lapsed. Apart from this, the inspection of the data disclosed that three vehicles with registration numbers- HR 55 A 4949 (Goods carrier), RJ 02 PA 1238 (Motor cab) and UP 83 T 1006 (auto-rickshaw) did not belong the bus category.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra issues clarification
After the above letters of the UP govt went viral on social media, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took to Twitter to defend herself. She said that in the inspection by UP govt, it has been found that there are 879 buses in the list of 1049, thereby admitting that the rest 170 are not buses.
The Congress general secretary also alleged that UP govt has kept more than 500 buses blocked for several hours, and now more than 300 buses are arriving on the Delhi border. “At least let these 879 buses run”, she said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also assured that her party will provide a new list of 200 buses by tomorrow, and will made the buses available. “Inspect that list also”, she added.
UP government had agreed to Congress offer of buses
On Monday, the Uttar Pradesh government had accepted Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s offer of providing 1,000 buses for migrant workers. The UP administration has written to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to submit the details of the buses along with drivers and co-drivers so that the process can be started. On 16 May 2020, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had tweeted a letter wherein she had written to UP government seeking permission to ply 1,000 buses for migrant workers. Accordingly, the Congress party had submitted a list of buses they intend to use with the UP government.
But in a major embarrassment to Congress, the list of ‘buses’ sent by Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi claiming to be that filled with migrant workers stranded at Delhi-UP border contains blacklisted numbers, cars and even three-wheeled auto rickshaws.
