Bombay HC orders Maharashtra govt to file report on procedure adopted to send back stranded migrant workers

Mumbai: Taking note of the cramped and unhygienic conditions the migrant workers are living in, the Bombay High Court on Friday ordered the Maharashtra government to file a report on the entire procedure adopted to send back these stranded workers to their native places. The court has also ordered the government to spell out in its report the conditions of the shelters in which these workers are residing after missing their Shramik Special trains.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Kamalkishor Tated was dealing with a petition filed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions through senior counsel Gayatri Singh. The petition highlighted the fact that the migrant workers who have applied for leaving the state by availing of the Shramik Special trains and buses, have been left in the dark about the status of their applications.

"Till such time they can board the trains or buses and leave for their native places, they are made to live in cramped and unhygienic shelters, without being provided with food and other essentials," the plea claimed. During the course of the hearing, additional solicitor general Anil Singh, appearing for the Union government, pointed out the detailed order passed by the Supreme Court on Thursday, regarding the plight of migrant workers.

Having heard the contention, CJ Datta noted, "Indeed, on perusal of the order, we find that certain directions have been issued by the SC. However, with regard to the peculiar local conditions, we consider it fit and proper to call upon the State to file a report indicating how the plight of the migrant workers, who have been assembling at the railway stations and bus stands in Mumbai and places around it, are being addressed."

The judges further referred to the photographs of migrant workers gathering in large numbers outside railway stations and bus stops, published in various newspapers. "In fact, these photographs show congregation of migrant workers not only on railway platforms but also on the streets adjoining the railway stations," CJ Datta said. "We are of the opinion that if such congregations are allowed, it would run counter to the object, for which the lockdown has been imposed, across the nation," CJ Datta observed.

Accordingly, the bench ordered the government to file its report by June 2, the next date of the hearing. "The report shall indicate the whole procedure that a migrant worker is required to follow in order to be eligible for leaving the state, the likely time within which he could board a train/bus, the nature of shelter he is provided with during the waiting period, as well as provisions made available to him for his sustenance," the judges said in their orders.