Human tragedy of migrant workers: Heartbreaking video of toddler trying to wake up dead mother at Muzaffarpur station shocks nation

In a devastating twist to the ongoing human tragedy of migrant workers, a video of a toddler desperately trying to wake up his dead mother at Muzaffarpur railway station has gone viral on social media. The woman had died shortly after the train arrived at Muzaffarpur railway station. Another two-year-old child also died at the same station due to heat and lack of food.

In the viral video, a toddler is seen trying to wake up his mother, who’s lying dead at the platform. Unaware that his mother has left him forever, the child continues to pull her cloth, which is partially covering her body.

According to reports, her mother had arrived on a special train deployed to ferry migrant workers stranded across the country, but collapsed shortly after the train reached Muzaffarpur.

Migrant workers were forced to walk hundreds of kilometers because of hardships faced by an unplanned announcement of a nationwide lockdown, which resulted in the loss of jobs for them. For weeks, the government failed to provide them transports despite criticism from journalists, civil rights activists and opposition parties.

There have been severe criticism for the Indian government for not providing adequate food and water to migrant workers travelling in special trains that were deployed many weeks after the crisis had assumed monumental proportions. Many trains have also reportedly deviated from their original routes to reach different destinations, leaving migrant workers in more discomfort.

News agency IANS reported that two passengers travelling on a Shramik Special train were found dead on Wednesday morning when it reached Manduadih railway station in Varanasi from Mumbai.

The Muzaffar incident has come as a crude reminder to just how inept the government’s handling of migrant worker crisis has been. The Supreme Court, which had earlier refused to intervene, on Tuesday finally conceded on Tuesday that poor migrant labourers indeed faced unspeakable misery and governments needed to act immediately to provide them with the help that they needed.

Janta Ka Reporter is not sharing the video of Muzaffarpur’s child due to its graphic nature.