Supreme Court of India has stated that it is the responsibility of Centre or originating State to provide food, water and shelter to migrant workers
Taking up the matter of the plight of migrant workers, the Supreme Court of India today, i.e., Thursday, May 28, 2020 questioned the inadequacies and lapses on part of both the Central and State Government with regards to movement of migrant workers.
A bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice M.R. Shah asked more than 50 questions from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who had appeared on behalf of the Central Government. The questions posed to Tushar Mehta included details on travel fare, timely commutation, food, shelter and safety of the migrant workers.
The bench observed, “What is the normal time? If a migrant is identified, there must be some certainty that he will be shifted out within one week or ten days at most? What is that time? There had been instances where one state sends migrants but at the border another State says we are not accepting the migrants. We need a policy on this.” Rig
Asking the Centre about the travel-fare of the migrants, the bench said, “In our country, the middlemen will always be there. But we don’t want middlemen to interfere when it comes to payment of fares. There has to be a clear policy as to who will pay for their travel.”
Responding to queries, Tushar Mehta informed the bench that between May 1-27, 2020, more than 3,700 special trains have run carrying migrant labourers. As of Wednesday, May 27, 2020, 91 lakh migrant workers have been shifted to their native places.
Millions of migrant workers have been left stranded after the Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi announced a sudden lockdown from March 25, 2020, giving a window of only 4-hours before the lockdown was implemented. They are struggling for food, shelter, medicine and trains / buses which can take them to their home. A lot of workers took to their feet and started walking, covering hundreds of kms, which only added to their woes.
The bench also asked Tushar Mehta about the surplus food available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI). After asking Centre that is food being supplied to them, the bench observed that why there should be shortage of food and shelter for the migrant workers and it should be provided to them till they get transport for travel.
The Supreme Court made it clear that the food has to be provided to the migrant workers by the originating State or the Centre. They will be the responsibility of originating State or Centre, till the time they reach their home State.
The Supreme Court stated that if migrant workers are found on foot by any State authority, they should be taken to shelters immediately and provided food and all facilities. The bench clearly told the Centre to share a timeline for moving all the migrant workers to their native places.
The matter was taken up by Supreme Court after receiving a host of petitions from Indian National Congress (INC) and Social Activist – Medha Patkar.
Meanwhile, as per the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), there are 1,58,333 cases in India and there have been 4,531 casualties.
