The Supreme Court has categorically stated that it is the State’s responsibility to look after migrant labourers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Telangana High Court said on Friday, as it instructed the State government to consider providing them accommodation in Manoranjan complex in Secunderabad.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, hearing a PIL petition on the plight of non-local workers, said the government could think of taking the help of Lions Club or Rotary Club.
“Why cannot the civil society be engaged to look after migrant labourers? Even corporate sector can be roped in,” the Chief Justice remarked.
Lawyer Vasudha Nagaraj, who was appointed amicus curiae in the PIL petition, said nearly 300 workers were accommodated in a 150-capacity shelter near the Secunderabad railway station. They were forced to live there waiting for Shramik trains to reach their States like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
“If trains are not available, the government can think of taking them to their respective States in RTC buses,” the CJ said.
