The Union home ministry on Tuesday told Parliament that migration of a large number of migrant workers during lockdown was triggered by panic created by fake news. This was stated by MoS Home G Kishan Reddy in a reply to an unstarred question by TMC MP Mala Roy. She had asked the reasons why thousands of these labourers ended up walking home post lockdown.

In his reply, Reddy stated, “The migration of a large number of migrant workers was triggered by panic created by fake news regarding the duration of lockdown. And people, especially migrant labourers, were worried about an adequate supply of basic necessities like food, drinking water, health services and shelter. However, the central government was fully conscious of this, and took all necessary measures to ensure that during the period of the inevitable lockdown, no citizen should be deprived of basic amenities of food, drinking water, medical facilities etc.”

However, in reply to MP Mala Roy's another question regarding the number of people who died during the said migration, the minister said the Centre does not have the data as it is not maintained centrally.

During the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, there were several deaths reported causing a countrywide outcry, forcing even the Human Rights Commission to sit up and take notice, demanding action by the Centre.

The MHA further stated that to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country, the central government took various measures, considered essential for the safety of people including migrant workers.

"From March 21, 2020 onwards, control room operations in the Ministry of Home Affairs were expanded by making their functioning 24X7 under the supervision of senior officers of the level of joint secretaries along with the representatives of key central ministries. These control rooms, inter alia, attended to the grievances of stranded persons, including migrant workers and promptly resolved these grievances relating to food, transport, shelter, etc. States and Union territories were also advised to set up control rooms with helplines and to appoint nodal officers," the ministry said.

On Monday, Union Minister of Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar had informed Parliament that the exodus saw over one crore migrant workers return to their native states.

The MHA has stated that by imposing country-wide lock-down, India successfully blunted the aggressive spread of Covid-19. "Lockdown helped create additional health infrastructure. During this time, dedicated isolation beds went up by 22 times and dedicated ICU beds, above 14 times from what existed in March 2020. Testing capacity for Covid-19 increased 10 times; limited indigenous manufacturing capacity for masks, PPEs, ventilators, etc at the time of lockdown, was also enhanced to attain self-reliance," the ministry said.

"By slowing down Covid spread, 1429 lakh cases and 37,00078,000 deaths were prevented in India," the ministry claimed in its reply.