Coronavirus lockdown: No migrant worker on road now, govt tells Supreme Court
Around 23 lakh have been provided food, which include migrants and daily wagers, the central government has told the Supreme Court, saying that no migrant worker is on the road anymore.
The government has told the Supreme Court that there is no migrant worker on the road, a day after the SC sought a status report from the Centre on the measures taken to prevent the exodus in wake of 21-day lockdown.
As of 11 am this [Tuesday] morning, no one is on the road. They [migrant workers] have been taken to the nearest available shelter, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centretold the Supreme Court on Tuesday as the court heard the matter over the situation due to coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta tells SC: We are considering providing counseling to address the panic. Over 22 lakh 88 thousand people being provided food. These are needy persons, migrants and daily wagers. They have been kept in shelters. https://t.co/qvx0dKVsfu ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2020
The SG also told the court that around 23 lakh have been provided food, which include migrants and daily wagers. Those who were still on the road trying to make it to their native villages have been moved to shelters, the government said.
The Centre also added that they were considering counselling to address the panic due to coronavirus.
Rope in religious, community leaders to prevent panic
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to rope in community and religious leaders to speak to people and provide those without a roof a shelter within 24 hours.
The SC also told the government to send trained counsellors to speak to migrant workers to ensure that there is no panic and proper information is provided to them.
The nationwide lockdown sparked the exodus of hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers who undertook long journeys from major urban cities on foot to their native places in last five days, threatening to overturn the benefits of the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, which has claimed over 34,500 lives globally and infected over 7.27 lakh.
The SC had on Monday taken note of large-scale movement of migrant workers from cities to their native places on foot after the coronavirus lockdown, and said that fear and panic was a "bigger problem than the virus".
Hearing two separate PILs which sought relief, including food, water, medicines and proper medical facilities, for thousands of migrant workers who are rendered homeless and jobless due to the lockdown, a bench of Chief Justice Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao before passing any direction had said, it would like to wait for the status report from the Centre