Covid-19: 'Exodus of migrant workers have to be stopped'; Centre tells Supreme Court amid coronavirus spread worry

The Central government told the top court on Monday that the exodus of migrant labourers from the cities to their native places will have to be ceased to ensure that it does not exacerbate the threat raised by the coronavirus (Sars-Cov-2).

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta detailed the Centre’s standpoint during a hearing on a plea lodged by two lawyers, requesting the court to put out directions to the central and state government to address the danger emanating from the exodus following the three weeks nation wide lockdown.

A message should not go out that the government is encouraging the mass migration, Mehta said. “Migration has to be stopped,”,he said.

The nation wide lockdown which was imposed on 25th March gave rise to an exodus, mainly daily wagers who lost their livelihood. In the absence of public transport, many started walking hundreds of miles across the state borders, posing threat the Sars-Cov-2 may spread to rural India.

The plea filed by lawyer Rashmi Bansal and Anuj Gupta invoked the possibility that many of the migrants may have been infected by the pathogen and have become carriers of the disease. Desperate to return home, they are maintaining social distancing, posing the threat that the virus may spread, they contended. The migrants should not be permitted to travel without being disinfected, the lawyer stated.

The Supreme Court, after hearing the the matter via video conferencing, indicated that it may not be inclined to barge into the matter since it fell within the executive domain. The bench, led by CJI SA Bobde, remarked that it didn’t want to mix up the matter when the government was already handling it.

“I think government is taking certain measures. We do not want to complicate things by issuing orders on things the government is already doing”, the CJI said.

The apex court didn’t pass any order but permitted the center to file a status report on the matter. The matter will be heard again on Tuesday.

The plea also stated that the people turning tails to the city should be directed so that they dont panic and flee.

“This fear and panic is a bigger problem than this virus”, CJI Bobde remarked.

The Supreme Court also sought a status report from the government on another plea filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava to make an adderss to the plight off the migrants who are walking hundreds off kilometers to reach their native land. Srivastava prayed that such people should be spotted and shifted to government shelter homes with food, water and medicines.

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