SC directs Centre, states to transport migrant workers within 15 days, set up help desks to help with jobs

In the suo motu matter concerning the migrant crisis effected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Central and state governments to identify stranded migrant workers and transport them back to their native places within 15 days, reports BarandBench.com.

The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah also passed the following directions:

• Shramik trains as demanded need to be provided within 24 hrs
• States need to establish help desks which will help migrant labourers to avail employment opportunities
• Counselling centres need to be established to help transported migrant workers to again find a way back to travel and earn if they want to
• If cases have been filed against the migrant workers for violating the lockdown under NDMA, then they must be considered to be withdrawn by states.

The court then listed the matter for July 8.

The Bench, while reserving the order on June 5, stated that it intended to give a 15-day period to the Central and state governments to transport all the remaining migrants to their native places.

On the last date of hearing, the apex court was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that till June 3, over 4,200 'Shramik Special' trains had been deployed to transport migrant workers to their native places.

Mehta said that over one crore migrant workers have been transported to their destinations through trains and buses, and that most of the trains ended up in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

On May 28, while hearing the suo motu petition, the court directed that migrant workers wanting to return to their home states not be charged train or bus fares. The Court also directed the concerned authorities to provide food free of cost to those migrants stranded across the country.

It was on May 26 that a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, while taking suo motu cognisance of the migrant crisis, said there have been “inadequacies and certain lapses” on the part of the Central and state governments in dealing with the issue.