Migrant workers situation 'a human tragedy', says Madras HC

Calling the migrant crisis a human tragedy the Madras High Court on Friday (May 15) directed the Centre and Tamil Nadu government to submit a report on the steps taken to ease their troubles during the lockdown.

A Division Bench of Justice N. Kirubakaran and Justice R. Hemalatha observed that though the governments have taken care of every section of the society to the maximum extent possible, the guest workers and agricultural workforce remained neglected. They rapped both the governments and asked for data on number of migrant workers each state/union territory, and whether assistance was provided to those migrant workers and if any such record was maintained.

“It is not only the duty of the native states of migrant workers but also the duty of the states where they work to take care of them, but this is not the case,” said the bench in a hard-hitting observation.

While observing that the migrant workers and agricultural workforce are a neglected lot in the COVID-19 crisis, the court pulled up the Central and state governments to file the
report on such workers by May 22.

While referring to the sufferings of the migrant workers, the court said “One cannot control his/her tears after seeing the pathetic condition of migrant labourers shown in the media for the past one month. It is nothing but a human tragedy,” the court said while mentioning the Aurangabad train tragedy in which sleeping migrants were run over by a goods train.

The bench made these observations while passing an interim order on a habeas corpus petition filed by advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam for rescuing about 400 Tamil labourers who have allegedly been illegally detained by their employer at Kupwad in Sangli district in Maharashtra.

After the Centre extended the lockdown, especially for the second time, a large number of migrants started returning home by foot. Many of them have met with gruesome accidents and lost lives including children. Several hundred migrants returning home have been killed due to exhaustion, starvation, trucks and rails running over them in the recent past.

Losing their jobs, lack of access to food and shelter in their state of work has caused this huge migrant exodus leaving people to walk several hundred kilometres in scorching heat, carrying all their belongings and surviving on food provided by good Samaritans.