The High Court of Karnataka on Friday directed the State government to spell out a rational policy to give clarity to migrants workers on how they will be allowed to travel to their home States to prevent them from panicking and venturing to walking to reach their home States.
Also, the court directed the government to initiate appropriate actions if it receives complaints that contractors and employers are not confining migrant workers to their shelters and not allowing them to leave to go back to their home States, and ensure their safe travel.
If a larger number of migrants are eligible to travel to their home State as per Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines but only a few could be accommodated at present, then the State government has to specify in what manner they would be selected so that migrant workers get clarity on their travel, the court said.
A special Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice B.V. Nagarathna passed the interim order while hearing an application filed by the All India Central Council of Trade Unions on the State government’s earlier decision not to allow migrant workers to travel to their home States.
However, the Additional Advocate-General Dhyan Chinnappa told the court that the government was making arrangements for migrant workers to go to their home States as per the guidelines issued by the MHA.
Earlier, counsel for the AICCTU said many migrant workers were not aware of how to register online seeking travel arrangement while pointing out that travel arrangements were now being made only from railway stations in Bengaluru and surrounding areas when thousands of migrant workers in Mangaluru, Belagavi, and Ballari are waiting to go back.
Stating that many migrant workers were leaving the city by walking, he alleged that some contractors and builders, with the help of the police, were preventing migrant workers living in some large construction sites from leaving.
Once the MHA issued guidelines allowing travel of migrant workers to their home States, the question of whether the State government can put any embargo on their travel does not arise, the Bench said.
If proper information is disseminated among the migrant workers, staying in shelters on construction sites, relief camps, in rented shelters, or on streets, the Bench said, they get clarity on their travel and would not venture to walk to reach their States, while pointing out that their lives would be in danger as there could be loss of life owing to accidents and hunger if they chose to walk long distances.
If migrants workers are staying away from Bengaluru city, then it follows that arrangements will have to be made from different railway stations, the Bench observed.
