The apex court directed the Centre and state governments to identify stranded migrant workers and transport them back to their hometowns within 15 days. The bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah had on June 5 said that they intend to provide the governments 15 days to transport migrant workers.
On Tuesday, the bench also ordered the Centre to provide additional “Shramik Special” trains within 24 hours of requests by states, so that migrant labourers could be sent back home soon. The Centre had launched over 300 of these trains from May 1. However, not all migrant labour has been able to board them. The Centre and states have clashed over the operations of these trains.
The court said that cases filed against the labourers under the Disaster Management Act for violating the countrywide lockdown should be considered as withdrawn by states.
The Supreme Court said that states need to establish help desks to help migrants avail employment opportunities. It also ordered states to establish counselling centres for migrant workers, if they wish to travel back to their places of work and find employment. The bench said schemes established for welfare and employment of migrant workers should be properly publicised.
