New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to redress the plight of thousands of migrant workers who along with their families are "walking on foot" to reach their native places amid the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown across the country.
Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava has filed a Public Interest Litigation in the apex court seeking directions to the police and local administration to immediately identify moving and stranded workers and shift to them to the nearest government shelter with proper food, water, medicines and medical supervision till the coronavirus lockdown continues.
He has sought urgent directions to the government from the apex court "to immediately redress the heart wrenching and inhuman plight of thousands of migrant workers who, along with their families, including women, small children, elders and differently abled peraons, are walking on foot for hundreds of kilometres, from big cities of India to their respective native villages, without food, water, transport, medicine or shelter, amid present corona virus crisis".
Through his petition, Srivastava said that the biggest sufferers in the situation are the poor mirgrant workers working as rickshaw pullers, rag pickers, construction workers, maids, factory workers etc who are struggling to make ends meet and are now also fighting a stigma as 'virus' carriers.
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Many of them have not been able to cross the borders and are now stranded without basic amenities.
He also expressed concern over the possibility of them not being accepted in their villages and the increasing risk of the virus being spread through them in the villages.
Citing the government's March 26 announcement wherein it had announced a package of Rs 1.75 lakh crore under "Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan Scheme", he contended that the migrants are already travelling or stuck and may not be able to avail the scheme's benefits.
Ever since the announcement of the lockdown, hundreds of workers, mostly daily-wagers, could be seen walking on foot to their native places which are hundreds of kilometres far.
As a result of the lockdown, they have not been able to earn their livelihood, and due to the shut down of public transport, they have no other option but to start the journey on foot.
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