Stranded workers must be provided with food and water, States/UTs told
Ten days after it junked a PIL on the plight of migrant workers, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed that no train or bus fare be charged from the migrant workers stranded across the country and they be provided food and water.
Between then and now, dozens of migrant workers were mowed down by trains and buses or were found dead inside trains while returning to their home States.
The SC, which passed interim directions, said all migrant workers who are stranded shall be provided food by concerned States and Union Territories (UTs) at places which shall be publicised and notified to them for the period they are waiting for their turn to board a train or a bus.
A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said the originating State shall provide meals and water at the station and during the journey while the Railways would provide the same to the migrant workers. It said food and water be also provided to them for travel in buses.
The Bench, also comprising Justices SK Kaul and MR Shah, directed that States to oversee the registration of migrant workers and ensure that they are made to board the train or bus at the earliest.
The top court said complete information in this regard should be publicised to all concerned.
The court observed that it is presently concerned with the miseries and difficulty faced by the migrants workers who are trying to get to their native places. It said though there is no doubt that State Governments and UTs are taking steps, several lapses have been issued in the process of registration, transportation and providing food water to the migrants
Earlier, the apex court asked some questions from the Centre on the plight of migrant workers ranging from as to how long they will have to wait before going to their native places to who will pay for their travel and provide them food and shelter.
The court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, about the confusion over the payment of travel fare of stranded migrant workers and said that they should not made to pay for their journey back home.
“What is the normal time? If a migrant is identified, there must be some certainty that he will be shifted out within one week or ten days at most? What is that time? There had been instances where one State sends migrants but at the border another State says we are not accepting the migrants. We need a policy on this,” the Bench told Mehta.
The Bench, questioning him over the travel-fare for the migrants, said, “In our country, the middlemen will always be there. But we don’t want middlemen to interfere when it comes to payment of fares. There has to be a clear policy as to who will pay for their travel.”
At the outset, Mehta submitted a preliminary report and said between May 1 and 27 total 3,700 special trains have been run for carrying migrant labourers and many have been shifted by road to bordering states. He said 91 lakh migrant workers have been shifted to their native places till Wednesday.
Questioning the delay over transportation of migrants, the Bench said it is a major problem and many have been waiting for weeks after their registration for journey to their native places. The top court said food needs are to be provided to the migrant workers by the originating State or the Centre, as the question of receiver state providing the food would come only after they reach there.
A different Bench of the same apex court has ten days ago refused to entertain a PIL contending that the court cannot stop migrant workers from walking on the roads or on railway tracks.
“How can anybody stop this when they sleep on tracks? There are people walking and not stopping. How can we stop it?” the Bench had observed when the petitioner pointed to the Aurangabad accident in which 16 migrants were run over by goods train when they were asleep on the track.
The three-judge Bench, in a U-turn of sorts, stated it was time “to extend a helping hand to these migrant labourers”.
The SC has faced much criticism for not taking up the migrant issue even as several High Courts made scathing observations against the Governments over the plight of the migrant workers.
Terming it as human tragedy, the Madras High Court had said,”One cannot control his/her tears after seeing the pathetic condition of migrant labourers shown in the media for the past one month.”
The Andhra Pradesh High Court was equally forthcoming on this matter.
“If at this stage, this court does not react and pass these orders, this court would be falling in its role as a protector and alleviator of suffering. Their pain has to be alleviated at this stage,” it said.
