Furore after migrants sanitised with chemical spray in Bareilly

Lucknow, Mar 30: The opposition parties on Monday came down heavily on the Yogi Adityanath government over allegedly spraying a group of migrants returning to their homes in Uttar Pradesh with "chemicals" to sanitise them.

According to the report, the incident took place in Bareilly and several migrants including women and children complained of burning sensation in their eyes.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the act was inhuman and urged the Yogi Adityanath government to not indulge in such inhuman work.

"I request the UP government that as all collectively fight this disaster, but please do not indulge in such inhuman work. The workers have already suffered a lot. Do not bathe them like this by adding chemicals. This will not protect them but will create more threats to their health," she tweeted in Hindi.

"The spraying of chemicals on migrants to sanitise them has raised some questions. Has the World Health Organisation given any direction in this regard? How do you treat the burning sensation caused by the chemicals? What arrangements are there for people to change out of wet clothes? What alternatives are being provided for the food that gets wet due to the spraying?,"Akhilesh Yadav tweeted.

In a shocking video, migrant workers returning to Uttar Pradesh, following a 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were sprayed with disinfectants.

The viral video shows, the migrant labour squatting on the road and they being sprayed with the disinfectant. The video was doing the rounds, with many users referring to it as a chemical bath.

The nodal officer in-charge of COVID-19, Ashok Gautam confirmed that the migrants were sprayed with chlorine mixed water. He however said that the step was necessary to contain the possible spread of the virus. We tried keeping them safe and asked them to shut their eyes, he also said.