The Karnataka High Court has passed an order directing state and central government to take immediate decision on payment of fare of migrants returning home as “no one should be deprived of an opportunity to go back to his own State only for the reason that he has no capacity to pay for the transport”.
The court observed, “Though in the written submissions, the State Government has reiterated that the migrant workers from other States will be permitted to travel back to their respective States, even as of today, a large number of migrant workers are found on highways who are making an endeavour to walk up to their respective States.” The court said that although states and the Centre may have been coordinating to enable the transfer of migrants, the same was not being communicated properly to all migrants hence, they “feel insecure about their prospects of returning to their respective homes”. The court further said that non-communication of this decision to the migrants had led them to take to the streets and walk back home and hence directed the state government to help of all the Trade Unions and NGOs for the same. Once the migrants are made aware of this decision, the court said that the State Government must, therefore, work out a time schedule for facilitating transport of these migrant workers to their respective States and ensure that the same is also communicated to them. The court asked the state to do this with respect to migrant workers of the State of Bihar, who are going to be accommodated in the special trains which will be run from 16th May 2020 to 20th May 2020.
The court highlighted the “desperate” situation that the migrants have been put in and stated, “As they have been deprived of livelihood, they have made up their mind to go back to their respective home States.”
The court also took up the issue of non payment of wages to the migrants and stated that the state government and its agencies must look at this issue.
Another issue brought forth was the issue of these migrants having to pay the train fare. The court referred to the order of the Ministry of Railways dated 2nd May 2020, as per which the State Government which arranges for “Shramik” special trains is expected to pay the train fare. However, in Karnataka, the government is making the migrants pay the fare.
The court observed that, “no one should be deprived of an opportunity to go back to his own State only for the reason that he has no capacity to pay for the transport” since currently there is no means of livelihood. The court asked both the central government as well as the state government to look into this issue, since if the migrant workers are unable to pay the train fare, it will be impossible to facilitate their travel at a faster rate. It directed the Karnataka government to take immediate decision on the question of paying railway fare of the migrants.
The court asked central and state government to “appreciate the major contribution made by the migrant workers in a large number of public projects as well as private projects which have contributed to the improvement of the infrastructure” and asked them to come forward to ensure help reaches them at the earliest at a time when the migrants are facing such a distress.
The court further directed the central and state government to “find the solution on this issue which will ensure that the rights of those migrant workers who wish to go back to their respective States are not infringed only because they are in distress and are not in a position to pay the traveling charges,” and directed that the response should be placed before the court on May 18. The court also directed that the details of people of Karnataka who migrated to other states and wish to come back should also be placed before the court as well as the policy decision regarding payment of their fare.
The court also pointed out the delay which has been caused in arranging the transport of these migrants and hence asked the state to ensure that so long as the migrant workers are not leaving the State, the supply of ration/food to them remains uninterrupted.
The complete order can be read here
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