New Delhi, June 5 : The Supreme Court today said it intends to give 15 days notice to Centre and the States for transporting migrant workers to their native places during COVID-19 lockdown period.
The bench which has taken suo mots (on its own) taken cognizance of the matter also reserved its order until next week.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah that till June 3 more than 4200 Shramik Special trains were pressed into service to move migrant workers to their native places.
Mehta further submitted that until now over one crore migrant workers have been sent to their destination homes and that most of these trains had terminated their journey in UP and Bihar.
On May 28, the Court had directed that migrant workers eager to return to their homes should not be charged bus or train fares. The bench further directed the Government authorities to also provide food free of cost to the stranded migrant workers.
