Will help migrants go back to home states if they come to mustering centres on the basis of SMS received: State govt informs Karnataka HC

The Karnataka High Court yesterday issued a set of directions while dealing with a plea regarding transport of migrant workers to their states of origin amid the COVID-19 pandemic..A Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar passed the following directions: .State government to place on record all the updated action taken reports pursuant to the Simplified Policy for transportation of migrants dated June 13 for each of the districts. Exhaustive data including the details of the migrant workers present at the mustering centres till date to be placed on record.State to ensure that list of persons provided by AICCTU are transported.AAG had submitted that state would shortly stop running of Shramik Special trains. Therefore, the state is required to place on record a written policy decision with reasons in this regard.Scheme of Central government to provide rations to non-cardholders will continue up to November 2020. The state government to implement the same in full letter and spirit..During the hearing, the state government informed the Bench that all mustering centres have been kept open and are receiving migrant workers who wish to go back..Additional Advocate General Dhyan Chinnappa submitted that now, the problem of reverse migration has arisen. People are coming back from their states and managing them will be hard, he said. .After perusing the statement of the government, the Bench stated that 4,10,000 migrants were sent via 287 trains and another 35,000 migrants were sent via buses. Even then, over 4,00,000 of the 9,00,000 migrant workers registered on the Seva Sindhu portal have not been transported, the Court noted. .The state further assured the Court that if the migrant workers come to mustering centres on the basis of the SMS received on June 30, then transport via buses would be arranged for them. .As the hearing progressed, the Court questioned the state on the condition of the migrants who were still in Karnataka. To this, Chinnappa responded that most of them are employed and this is why they preferred not to go back to their states. .At this point, Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari informed the Bench that the Central government had extended free ration without ration cards under the "Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana" Scheme till November. Taking note of this, CJ Oka opined that this would really prove to be beneficial for the poor and the needy. .After going through the memo submitted by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the Court came down heavily on the civic body stating that there was no desire on its behalf to provide food and other essentials to persons in containment zones. The Court further noted the contents of the state’s circular dated June 30 reiterating the obligation of the BBMP to provide food and essentials to the needy..State govt to clarify whether it wants to lend helping hand to migrant workers who could not go back to home states by June 24: Karnataka HC.In this regard, the Court opined that the minimum expectation from BBMP was an assurance that it would abide by the state’s directions. .Therefore, the Court directed the BBMP Commissioner to file an affidavit detailing the provision of food and essentials to persons in containment zones. The number of persons affected in the containment zones is also to be placed on record, the Bench further directed. .The matter will be next heard on July 7.