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against the labourers under the Disaster Management Act for violating the countrywide lockdown should be considered as withdrawn by states.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.

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“The road accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya is extremely tragic. The government is involved in the relief work. I express my condolences to the families of those killed in this accident, as well as wish the injured a speedy recovery,” PM Modi tweeted in Hindi.

Two trucks collided in Auraiya district at around 3 am, killing 24 migrant workers and injuring at least 38.

Among those injured, 15 are critical. Separate groups of labourers – stranded due to the coronavirus lockdown – had hitched rides on these trucks coming from Rajasthan and Delhi to return to their homes.

Many of them were sitting on sacks of goods that one of the vehicles was transporting. Some of the them were thrown off the vehicle, others were crushed under the weight of these sacks due to the impact of the collision. The migrants were headed to their homes in Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and UP.

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted in Hindi: “The death of migrant workers in a road accident in Auraiya district is unfortunate and sad. My condolences to the bereaved families.

Instructions have been given to ensure relief and medical treatment for those injured. A probe has also been ordered.” He had appealed to the migrants yesterday to avoid travelling on their own.

Two police officers have been suspended over the incident and both the trucks have been seized. The UP Police has also filed cases against the truck drivers. A compensation of Rs 2 lakh has been announced by the state for the families of those who died and Rs 50,000 for those injured.

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Addressing reporters via a Zoom video call, Mr Gandhi also expressed “serious reservations” about the government’s Rs 20 lakh crore package for the coronavirus-hit Indian economy, calling it a “package of loans” that did not provide immediate on-ground relief for farmers and migrants.

“Our people need money. Prime Minister should reconsider this package. Modiji should think about direct cash transfer, 200 working days under MNREGA, money for farmers, because they are the future of India,” he said.

Mr Gandhi highlighted the NYAY scheme proposed by the Congress last year – which offered annual income support of Rs 72,000 to the poorest sections of society – and urged the government to come up with a similar plan.

“The migrant labourer walking on the street needs money, not debt. The farmer who is suffering needs money, not debt,” Mr Gandhi said, adding, “If we do not, this will become a catastrophic problem”.

Earlier this week Mr Gandhi made that same request of PM Modi, asking for direct transfer of “at least Rs 7,500” to the bank accounts of migrants left jobless by the lockdown.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Abhijit Banerjee, in a discussion with Mr Gandhi on the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis, made the same point.

Mr Banerjee said: “I would say bottom 60 per cent of the population, we give them some money, nothing bad will happen in my view”, adding that a similar practice was being followed by the United States.

The novel coronavirus outbreak – India has reported nearly 86,000 cases and over 2,700 deaths so far – has affected lakhs of people across the country, with migrant labourers and daily wagers among the hardest hit.

Distressing visuals have emerged over the past weeks of men, women and children left with no choice but to walk hundreds of kilometres home in punishing weather, often without money, food, water or shelter.

Mr Gandhi has been particularly vocal about the migrant crisis, repeatedly urging the government to ensure they are fed and allowed to get home safely.

The government this week announced a fiscal relief and stimulus package that had some measures for stranded and struggling migrants, including food rations and affordable housing.

However, the Congress said this was a “jumla” (false promise) package that had no direct benefit for farmers or migrant labourers. Similar concerns were raised by other opposition leaders, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar and CPIM leader Sitaram Yechury.

In his video call today, Mr Gandhi said that unless the government ensured a significant level of demand from consumers across all economic sections, the country would struggle to recover from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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It said the new guidelines will come into effect from 4 May, “which shall give considerable relaxation to many districts.”

So far, only interstate movement of essential commodities has been allowed, while migrant workers could travel to their workplaces within city limits if they showed no symptoms for coronavirus.

Wednesday’s guidelines says all stranded people can return to their home towns after undergoing strict medical screening both at the source and destination cities. States must also organize thermal testing units and quarantine facilities for all those who are stranded, in order to clear asymptomatic cases, before sending them back. However, the movement of migrants, tourists and students will be restricted to non-containment zones.

States must arrange for sanitized buses for transportation, it said.

The decision comes just two days after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers, wherein the issue of stranded migrant labourers and students was discussed. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, states where large numbers of migrants come from, had requested that they be allowed to return home. The Odisha government said that the Centre must set standard operating procedures (SOP) for people who are returning.

“Due to lockdown migrant workers, pilgrims, students, tourists and other persons are stranded at different places,” Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said in a letter to states. “All states should designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending stranded people.”

State governments, who have kept a strict vigil at borders, allowing movement of only essential services, will now coordinate with each other to ensure safe passage to the hundreds of thousands stranded across the country.

The sending and receiving states must agree to movement by road only after the people are screened and found to be asymptomatic, the Centre said, adding that states must also organize thoroughly sanitized buses.

“On arrival at their destination, such persons would be screened by local health authorities, and kept in home quarantine unless the assessment requires keeping the person in institutional quarantine,” Bhalla said, reiterating that “they will be kept under watch with periodic health check-ups”.

The home ministry’s move is a major step towards easing the lockdown, even as states continue to demand an extension beyond 3 May.

Though states have permitted certain activities following the revised guidelines issued by the Union home ministry on 15 April for a staggered lifting of the lockdown, the opposition said the Centre should broaden the scope of transportation.

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