Supreme Court orders on Thursday directed states to bear the cost of bus and train fares being charged from the migrants who are heading home due to loss of employment during the nationwide lockdown.
A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on May 26 said there have been “inadequacies and certain lapses” on the part of the Central and State governments in dealing with the migrant worker’s crisis during the lockdown.
The court ordered the Centre and the States to immediately provide transport, food, and shelter free of cost to the stranded migrant workers.
The suo motu cognizance of media reports and representations from senior lawyers to step in to protect the fundamental rights of the migrant workers were taken by the judges in their chambers.
The SC has said that migrants workers shall not be charged for any fare for the journey, either by bus or train. The cost of their travel will have to be shared between the sending and receiving states, as per their arrangments, the SC said.
The point of food distribution must be publicized and notified to the migrants for the period they are waiting for their turn to board a train or a bus, the SC order said.
In the train journey, the originating states will provide meals and water. The rest of the way, the Railways has been directed to provide meals and water. Food and water to also be provided in buses, the apex court has said.
The court admitted that the “crisis is even continuing today with large sections of migrant labourers still stranded on roads, highways, railway stations and State borders”. Effective concentrated efforts were required to redeem the situation, it noted.
The Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said in a written order, “Adequate transport arrangement, food and shelters are immediate to be provided by the Centre and the State governments free of cost. Although the Government of India and the State governments have taken measures yet there have been inadequacies and certain lapses”.
It asked Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta to assist the court and produce on record by day May 28 measures taken by the Centre so far to alleviate the migrants’ sufferings. It referred to newspaper and media reports on helpless migrants forced to travel thousands of miles on foot or bicycles during the lockdown. This was the time when this poor and deprived sections of society needed help from the Central and State governments to survive the harsh lockdown.
