Shramik Special trains were run by the Railways to ferry stranded migrant labourers back to their native states during the lockdown.

(PTI)After initially stating that the central government does not have any data on migrant deaths during the lockdown, the government has now said 97 migrants were reported to have died till September 9 onboard Shramik Special Trains.The information came to light in a government response to a question in Rajya Sabha days after a row broke out over the Centre having no data on migrant deaths in the country.In response to a question raised by Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien in Rajya Sabha on Friday on details of total deaths that occurred onboard the Shramik Special trains, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said, “Out of these 97 cases of deaths, state police sent dead bodies for post mortem in 87 cases.

51 post mortem reports have been obtained from respective state police so far, in which the reasons for deaths have been shown as cardiac arrest/heart disease/brain hemorrhage/pre-existing chronic disease/chronic lung disease/chronic liver disease etc.”The railway minister’s response comes amid a political storm caused earlier this week by the labour ministry’s response in Lok Sabha in which he stated that no data is available on the number of migrant workers who died during the lockdown enforced in March.In the month of May, it was reported that almost 80 migrants died onboard Shramik Special trains, between May 9 and May 27, citing data from the Railway Protection Force.Shramik Special trains began operation on May 1 to ferry migrant labourers back to their home states during the lockdown period.Hitting out at the government over no data on migrant deaths, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the world saw the deaths but only the Modi government was unaware.Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar told the Lok Sabha on Monday that the government does not have data on the number of migrants who died or were injured while returning to their native places due to the lockdown.