We will remain at Agra border with buses till 4 pm on May 20: Congress to UP govt

The Congress on Tuesday asserted that party members along with the fleet of buses will remain at the Uttar Pradesh border till 4 pm on May 20 to wait for the state government's nod on further movement.

"We are at Uttar Pradesh border along with buses since the morning of May 19 and have not received any response from you. When we tried to move towards Noida and Ghaziabad then Uttar Pradesh Police stopped us at Agra border. We will remain here till 4 pm on May 20," Sandeep Singh, Personal Secretary to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday wrote to Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awsh Awasthi.

"The police indulged in misbehaviour with Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Ajay Kumar Lallu. Our foremost goal is to help the migrant workers," Singh added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Lallu was dragged and removed by the police from the Agra-Rajasthan border in Uncha Nangla area where he had staged a sit-in protest demanding that buses, his party had arranged to ferry back migrants to their homes, be allowed to enter Uttar Pradesh.

According to Uttar Pradesh Police, the buses deployed by the Congress party to carry migrants to their homes in Rajasthan did not have any permit which is required amid the lockdown for inter-state movement.

"As per MHA guidelines you need to apply for permission for inter-state bus movement after which a pass is issued and permission is granted. They had not applied and did not have a pass. So they were not allowed to enter. He (Lallu) has not been arrested," SP rural (west), Agra, Ravi Kumar told .

Earlier, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's office termed the Uttar Pradesh government's 'demand of handing-over 1,000 buses' which Congress wants to ply for ferrying stranded migrant workers, as not only a waste of time and resources but an inhumane act.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh minister Sidharth Nath Singh had alleged that the list of buses given by the Congress to ferry migrant workers to their homes consisted of autos and goods carriers.

"We have done preliminary inquiry and it has come out that of the buses for which they sent details, many are turning out to be two-wheelers, autos and goods carriers. It is unfortunate," Singh told reporters in Lucknow.

On Monday, the Uttar Pradesh government had agreed to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi's request to run 1,000 buses for migrant workers.

( With inputs from ANI )