Supreme Court To Hear Plea On Migrant Crisis Today

The Supreme Court will hear a petition today asking it to direct the centre and states to allow migrant workers stuck amid the lockdown to return home if they test negative for the COVID-19 virus.

The petition comes amid rising concern for the lakhs of migrant workers and daily wage labourers left stranded - many without jobs, money, food or shelter - around the country after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a "total lockdown" last month to break the coronavirus chain of transmission.

The Chief Ministers of several states, including Rajasthan and Maharashtra, have urged the centre to come up with a "unified strategy for the smooth movement of migrant workers".

On Saturday Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot urged the centre to run "special trains" to help the migrants return home. Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray made a similar appeal this week, which was frowned upon by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Mr Gehlot's appeal came a day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said his administration, which last month said it had brought back around four lakh migrants, would bring back others providing they had served a 14-day quarantine period.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who last month disapproved of interstate movement of people during the lockdown, appeared to make a U-turn this week when he told the centre a relaxation of movement restrictions would encourage states to arrange for the return of migrants from their territories.

The centre, which has directed state governments to seal borders and encourage migrants to stay put by offering food and shelter, has expressed concern that allowing migrants to return to their home states could spread the virus even further.

Speaking to NDTV on Saturday evening, Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said: "If migrants return, they will not return alone, coronavirus will return with them. If the migrants are being taken back, it should be verified that they are not coronavirus positive".

In an earlier hearing on the crisis Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta made a similar comment - that migrants may carry the COVID-19 virus back to their villages and hometowns and that is why states had been instructed to provide food and shelter.

Meanwhile, a second petition on this subject will also be heard by the top court today - on the grant of subsidised food grains to migrants during the lockdown period.

Across India nearly 27,000 COVID-19 cases and 826 deaths have been reported.

The nationwide lockdown, now in force for over 30 days, has been credited by the government for drastically reducing the number of possible cases; the centre had earlier claimed the number of cases could have been 8.2 lakh but for the restrictions.