New Delhi, May 16 (IANS): The Congress on Saturday targeted the Centre after 24 migrant workers were killed in a road accident in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya, saying that the government can't be a bystander on the migrant crisis and if needed the Army should be brought in to help migrants reach their homes safely.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said, "The migrant crisis is now as big as the corona pandemic itself. Government cannot be a bystander in such a situation where migrants either go hungry or are losing their lives in accidents."

He said: "Speeches are not a solution. Rs 1000 cr of PM CARE funds must reach their hands."

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also condoled the death of the migrant workers.

In a series of tweets, she said, "The heart wrenching accident of Auraiya has once again brought the question to the fore, why the government is not making proper arrangements for the safe return of the migrant workers? Why the buses are not being arranged in the state to transport the migrant workers?"

"Either the government is not seeing anything or even after seeing everything they are just ignoring it. Is rhetoric the only job left with the government?" she said in another tweet.