Coronavirus: PIL filed in Supreme Court to bring back Indian workers from Gulf countries

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court for a direction to the Union government to bring back Indian migrants stranded in Gulf countries, on the emergence of the coronavirus.

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Out of around 9 million Indians, employed in countries in the Gulf countries, a vast majority were involved in low-skilled labour. They are going through challenging times and are struggling to meet even their basic needs in a dire jobless situation arising out of the pandemic, NGO 'Pravasi Legal Cell' contended.

It urged the court to tell the government to take appropriate steps to ensure adequate food, medicines, quarantine and emergency service facilities for them.

The petitioner also sought financial support for the families of the migrant labours rendered jobless due to COVID-19.

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It claimed in the wake of lockdown in several Gulf states, the workers have been quarantined in notoriously-overcrowded labour accommodation camps, which lacked adequate water and sanitation, meaning that they were inevitably less able to protect themselves from the virus.

In its plea, the NGO submitted the migrant workers experiencing symptoms should have access to timely testing and medical facilities.

"The migrant workers in the Gulf countries are being denied treatment in the Hospitals even after testing positive for COVID-19. Since the number of patients, getting infected is going up, there is a shortage of beds in government hospitals so first preference is given to their own citizens," it alleged.