Chennai: The Madras High Court on Saturday termed the plight of the migrant workers as shown in the media as a “human tragedy”, saying “one cannot control his/her tears” on seeing that.
The court also queried the Central government on the number of migrant workers who had breathed their last enroute their home states, besides mentioning several migrant workers who were run over by a goods train in Aurangabad some days back while they were sleeping on the track at night. The court asked the Central government whether it maintained any data of the number of migrant workers in different states and if they were allowed to cross state borders. Pointing at the sufferings of the migrant workers, the court said that nothing has been done for them in the past one month despite the media reporting the hardships faced by them. The court said it was the duty of the states from where the migrant workers hailed and the states where they worked to take care of their well-being.
It also asked the government about the steps taken to transport the remaining people to their home states and whether workers’ migration could lead to the spread of coronovirus. (PTI)