Ahmedabad:The Gujarat government claimed before the Gujarat High Court that there are 22.5 lakh labourers in the state while there are only 7512 labourers on its record.
Replying to public interest litigation (PIL) before a division bench of the High Court comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Ilesh Vora, the state government said only those workers registered under the Migrant Workers Act were eligible for the travel allowance. In a press release, the government had claimed to have sent 8 lakh migrant workers to their home states.
The state government said before the High Court that it was not viable to send migrant workers to their respective states by buses. Only railway was the appropriate mode of transportation for the migrant workers to return to their home states, it said.
It was pleaded in the PIL that the state government should employ 8500 state transport buses to transport the workers to their states. It was alleged in the petition that private buses were charging Rs 2000 to Rs 10000 from the workers to take them to their home states.
Also read:Future actions to stimulate economy will depend on how COVID crisis pans out: FM
The petition also demanded that the government should pay Rs 1000 per head to the construction workers and not on the basis of their ration cards in the second and third round.
In separate applications under the PIL, demands have been made seeking clarification from the education board with regard to examinations, opening of shops including hair cutting saloons, low number of coronavirus tests, steps taken by the government in view of the fact that all beds in the civil hospital are full.
