Lawyer Sagheer Ahmed Khan had offered to deposit Rs. 25 lakh with the court for safe return of migrants
The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition related to making safe travel arrangements for migrant workers "irrespective of their caste, creed and religion", allowed the lawyer and petitioner in the case to pay Rs. 25 lakh so that those from Uttar Pradesh who are stranded in Mumbai can return home safely.
Last month, Mumbai-based lawyer, Sagheer Ahmed Khan, had offered to deposit Rs 25 lakh with the court for safe return of migrants. He had requested the court direct to the central and state governments for transporting migrants stranded in Mumbai to UP districts of Basti and Sant Kabir Nagar, also his home town.
Today, during the course of the hearing, the court asked Mr Khan, "Are you ready to pay?" to which, the lawyer replied in the affirmative. The court then directed Mr Khan to deposit the money with the Supreme Court Registry.
"Payment has to be made within a week's time in SC Registry as petitioner was apprehensive to pay in PM CARES Fund. The money should be used for transporting migrants to UP," the court said posting the case for hearing on June 12.
The coronavirus lockdown has had a devastating impact on the economy and livelihoods of lakhs of migrant workers.
With many left without jobs or money or a means to get home, desperate migrant workers started walking, sometimes thousands of kilometres, cycling or clambering onto buses and trains, to go from urban centres to their villages.
The Centre has said around four crore migrant labourers are engaged in various jobs across the country. And so far, 75 lakh of them have returned home in trains and buses since the nationwide lockdown was imposed.
(With agency inputs)
