SC to hear tomorrow plea seeking food, shelter for migrant workers

The Supreme Court on Monday slated for tomorrow the hearing on a petition seeking directions to provide amenities like food and shelter to migrant workers amid the lockdown imposed in the wake of coronavirus.

A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde and also comprising Justice L Nageshwar Rao today heard the petition, filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, through video conferencing and slated the matter for Tuesday.

Srivastava, during the hearing today, cited many news stories about migrant labourers walking out of urban centres. Seeing thousands of people on the road every day, it is a very sad situation, he told the apex court.

The top court said that it will deal with everything, but not with what the Central government is already doing and added that it will first go through the Centre's affidavit.

Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, told the court that the Union of India and all state governments are taking all kinds of necessary steps to mitigate the situation and submitted that he wanted to file an affidavit while replying to the petition.

The CJI said that we are not going to add to the confusion by issuing any kind of direction, which is already being taken care of by the government.

The petition sought directions to provide food, water, shelter and urgent indulgences to the migrant workers and their families, including women, children, and elders, who are resorting to walking miles on miles to their hometowns.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.