The government expressed concern, saying that the migration had the potential to spread the deadly virus to the rural population “which has remained untouched so far”
The Central government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that 500,000-600,000 migrants reached their villages on foot during the lockdown, even as all policy measures were in place to take care of their needs. The government expressed concerns over the large movement of migrant workers in the past few days, from cities to villages, had the potential to spread the deadly virus to the rural population “which has remained untouched so far.” The submission was made by Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla to the Supreme Court in response to a status report sought by the apex court on the measures taken to prevent the exodus of migrant workers.
“Unfortunately, due to some fake and or misleading news or social media messages, a panic was created. There are approximately 44 million who have migrated for purpose of work of employment, according to Census 2011. The present barefoot migration, which has taken place, consists of – on a very rough estimate – 500,000-600,000 persons across the country,” Bhalla told the apex court.
He said that the Central government had announced a Rs 1.7 trillion financial package for “every poor person”, including migrant workers, to deal with the impact of the coronavirus and “there was no necessity for migration of workers to rush to their village who started shifting from place of their occupation to the place of their residence.” “Their daily needs were being taken care of wherever they were working and the daily needs of their family members was being taken care of at their respective villages,” the central government said.
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