Reiterating that the Supreme Court had categorically stated that it was State’s responsibility to look after migrant labourers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Telangana High Court on Friday instructed the State government to consider providing accommodation to migrant workers 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 to help such workers. “Why cannot the civil society be engaged to look after migrant labourers? Even corporate sector can also be roped in,” the CJ remarked.
Lawyer Vasudha Nagaraj, who was appointed as amicus curiae in the publc interest petition (PIL) petition, said nearly 300 workers were accommodated in a 150-capacity shelter near the Secunderabad railway station. The workers were forced to live there waiting for Shramik trains to reach their States like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
The bench asked Advocate-General B.S. Prasad why the authorities could not think of temporarily using Manoranjan complex which was vacant at present.
It had sufficient space, rooms, toilets and other basic amenities, the bench said. The Chief Justice J instructed the AG to send officials of Labour or Social Welfare department to inspect the present shelter for migrant workers at the Secunderabad railway station and shift half of them to Manoranjan complex.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the government not complying with its directions, the bench said it gave orders on June 10 to provide e-toilets to inmates of the shelter. But even after nine days, nothing was done, the bench said. “If trains are not available, the government can think of shifting them to their respective States in RTC buses,” the CJ said.