Supreme Court on Migrant Crisis in India: Here's What The Apex Court Said Today
The Supreme Court on Friday said that it intends to give 15 days time to Centre and states for transporting all the stranded migrant workers to their native places. The three-judge bench reserved the order for Tuesday.
New Delhi, June 5: The Supreme Court on Friday said that it intends to give 15 days time to Centre and states for transporting all the stranded migrant workers to their native places. A three-member judge bench of the Apex Court comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah was hearing the suo motu cognizance taken in the migrant crisis matter which cropped up in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown. The three-judge bench reserved the order for Tuesday.
General Tushar Mehta informed the Bench that till June 3, over 4,200 ‘Shramik Special’ trains were deployed to transport migrant workers to their native hometowns. So far, more than one crore migrant workers have been transported to their destinations and most of the trains ended up in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Supreme Court in its hearing today said that all states must create employment for migrants. 'Migrant Workers Not to Pay Fare For Bus or Train': Five Key Takeaways From Supreme Court's Interim Order on Migrants' Crisis.
SC Says Create Employment for Migrants
Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan during the session said that there needs to be a positive obligation on the states to register migrants. The reason cited was because migrants are usually illiterate and are wandering here and there.
He further suggested that "Fares must be paid by the Centre for migrants irrespective of receiving or originating states paying the same. The Air turbine fuel cess also needs to be reduced so that the airfare comes down for the people willing to go back".
Senior Advocate Indira Jaising highlighted that many migrants have FIRs against them for violating lockdown conditions, by walking on foot to go home. She said, "All these must be quashed.”
Advocate Alakh Srivastava also spoke about the several births that are taking place in Shramik trains. He, therefore, stressed the need for medical teams to be deployed with the trains and proper medical checks need to take place too.
On May 28, the top court had directed that the migrant workers wanting to return to their home states will not be charged train or bus fares and those stranded across the country will be provided food free of cost by the authorities concerned. The migrant crisis came to the light after a nationwide lockdown was announced. Heart-wrenching stories of migrants walking thousands of kilometers in order to reach home came up after all their money dried up and their source of livelihood was affected due to the lockdown.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 05, 2020 04:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).