The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to ensure that migrant workers kept in shelter homes are given food, medical aid, and also asked it to take assistance of trained counsellers and religious leaders of all faiths to help the migrants overcome their panic as "panic will destroy more lives than the virus".
The court also asked the Central government to set up within 24 hours a portal for dissemination of real-time information on the COVID-19 pandemic to counter the panic and fear being spread through fake news.
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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, told a bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao that no migrant worker, who had left for their native places after being rendered jobless due to a 21-day nationwide lockdown, "is on the road now".
"Panic will destroy more lives than the virus", the bench said, while directing the Centre to provide counseling by trained counsellors and community leaders of all faiths to calm down the migrants who are kept in shelter homes across the country.
"We want to impress upon you that the panic will destroy more lives than the virus. You need counsellors," the bench said, adding, "you can have 'Bhajan, Kirtan, Namaz' or whatever but you have to give strength to the people."
To which, Mehta said the authorities would mobilise religious leaders to counsel the migrants in shelters so that they could stay calm and added, "I am making a statement here that within 24 hours, we will mobilise trained counsellors and religious leaders".
The bench, which took two PILs for hearing through video conferencing, said these shelter homes should be run by volunteers and not the police, and there should be "no use of force and intimidation".
The PILs demanded direction from the court for the government to provide thousands of migrant workers who are rendered homeless and jobless due to the lockdown with relief, including food, water, medicines and proper medical facilities.
Asserting that the migration of people cannot be allowed at this juncture as this would spread the virus in villages, Mehta said rural India is unaffected by the virus but there is a possibility of three out of 10 moving from cities to rural areas carrying the virus.
Referring to the last census, Mehta who addressed the court from his office chamber, where the Union home secretary was also present, said there were about 4.14 crore persons who had migrated for work but backward migration is now happening due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mehta told the court that government would shortly implement a system where panic of migrant workers would be addressed and they would also be offered counselling.
"When will you set up the centres? Where are the counsellors coming from? Where will you get them from? Where will you send them?", the bench asked, adding, "This is not a definite statement".
Mehta said trained counsellors of the district mental health programs would be sent, to which the bench said, "there are 620 districts in India. How many counsellors do they have in total?"
Regarding the shelters where these migrant workers have been kept, the bench said authorities should entrust duties of managing them to volunteers and not to police.
"You ensure that you bring volunteers. There should not be use of force or intimidation," the bench said.
According to the Union home ministry, there are over 21,000 relief camps set up across the country where more than 6.6 lakh destitute people and those stranded because of the COVID-19 lockdown are sheltered.
The Centre told the apex court that the suggestion by one of the petitioners to sprinkle water and chemicals on migrants to sanitise them does not work scientifically and is not the right way.
The bench adjourned the hearing on the PILs to April 7 while refusing to restrain the high courts from taking up the issue of migrants, saying that they may monitor the issue more closely.
It, however, asked the Centre to tell government lawyers to inform high courts about the orders passed by the apex court.
The bench asked the Centre to look into the letter petitions filed by Kerala MP from Kasaragod constituency Rajmohan Unnithan and one filed by an MP from West Bengal on the issues related to coronavirus saying there may be some good suggestions.
During the hearing, Mehta said the entire country was required to be locked so that people don't mix and adhere to social distancing.
Mehta said advisory has been issued to the state governments regarding complete prohibition of inter-state migration and as per the central control room, around 6,63,000 persons have been provided shelter so far.
He said that nearly 22.88 lakh needy persons, migrants and daily wagers are being provided food and shelter after being stopped enroute to their native places.
In its initial observation also, the bench told the government to "ensure that all those whose migration you have stopped are taken care of in terms of food, shelter, nourishment and medical aid. You will also follow up on those whom you have identified as cases of COVID-19 and quarantined.
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