PIL filed in Supreme Court for relief to migrant workers

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking a direction to the Centre and some states to immediately provide transport facilities, food, shelter, medical support to migrant workers stranded across the country following the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Advocate Nachiketa Vajpayee also sought an order to the Union as well as state governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh to comply with the directions of the apex court of March 31 asking them to deal with the workers with kindness and provide them all the facilities as per the advisories.

The petition filed by advocate Deepak Prakash contended that the continued suffering of millions of migrant workers and death in some cases called for immediate interference of this court.

It claimed that despite numerous advisories and orders, there existed a severe lack of coordination among the authorities in some states, leading to insufficiency in providing relief to stranded migrant workers.

"The mass movement of migrant workers is prevalent in states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi where the situation has gone out of control. With each passing day, there are numerous violations of precautionary norms," the plea claimed.

It stated that the panic and exodus of migrant workers need to be curtailed expeditiously, otherwise it would lead to an exponential growth of the deadly virus. It also referred to mowing down of 16 workers by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district on May 8.

The petitioner cited several disturbing images and reports of the distressed migrant workers walking on roads to reach their native places, showing a gross violation of their basic as well as fundamental rights.