The State government on Thursday indicated to the Karnataka High Court that it has sent last SMS to migrants workers who want to go back to their home States in Shramik Special trains as the travel facility would be stopped shortly.
Also, the government, citing media reports that already reverse migration was happening as seats in trains to the city from Bihar, West Bengal and Delhi are completely booked till July 10, claimed that migrants appear to be returning to their places of employment in Karnataka.
The statement in this regard has been made before a special Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar during the videoconference hearing of PIL petitions on issues that have cropped up due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Yet another round of SMSs were sent on June 30 to the registered mobile numbers of the remaining 6,54,406 migrant workers, who had registered on Seva Sindhu portal indicating their wish to travel in special trains to their home States, the government stated. All these migrant workers have been informed through SMS to immediately report at the designated mustering centres in Bengaluru city and other districts to avail themselves of the facility of special trains, it has been stated by the government. This SMS is intended to be the last message, the government stated while pointing out that already 4,10,689 migrant workers had left Karnataka in 287 trains.
The Bench adjourned further hearing till July 8 asking the government to submit exhaustive data of migrants, including those present at the mustering centres, and the policy on discontinuing the facility of special trains.
