[ad_1]
Updated: May 15, 2020 4:33:19 pm
In this file photo, migrant workers walk along the Maharashtra-Gujarat border to return home. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Coronavirus (COVID-19): The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a statement seeking an address to the Center to ask all district magistrates to identify stranded migrant workers who walk the highways and provide them with shelter and food before guaranteeing their free transportation to native places. . He noted that it is impossible for the courts to monitor or stop the movement of migrant workers across the country, and that state governments should take the necessary steps in this regard.
Stranded in several states after the coronavirus-induced blockade, thousands of migrant workers have been walking hundreds of kilometers on the roads to get home.
A bank of three judges headed by Judge L. Nageswara Rao asked Attorney General Tushar Mehta if there was any way to prevent these migrant workers from walking on the roads. For this, Mehta said states are providing interstate transportation to migrant workers, but if people start walking on foot rather than waiting for transportation, then nothing can be done.
Mehta further stated that authorities can only request these people not to start walking on foot, arguing that using any force to stop them would be counterproductive. He also told the bank, which was listening to the matter through videoconferences, that subject to the agreement between state governments, everyone would have the opportunity to travel to their destinations.
In presenting the petition, lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava referred to the recent incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, where migrant workers died in road accidents.
Thursday at 4:00 a.m.: a migrant family on their way home to UP, opposite the Mayur Vihar metro station in Delhi. (Express photo of Gajendra Yadav)
“How can we stop it?” The bank, which also included judges S K Kaul and B R Gavai, noted that states should take the necessary steps on these issues. The bank, which said it was not willing to listen to the statement, noted that it is impossible for the court to control who is walking and who is not.
Srivastava had filed the petition shortly after the Aurangabad incident in which 16 migrant workers, returning to Madhya Pradesh and sleeping on the train tracks, were hit by a freight train.
With PTI inputs
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines
For the latest news from India, download the Indian Express app.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
.
[ad_2]
