No People On The Road Now, Centre Tells SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard via video conferencing petitions concerning migrant workers trapped by the COVID-19 lockdown, the Centre informed the court that all those on the road have been taken to shelters.

On Monday, the apex court had asked the Centre to file a status report on steps taken to prevent the large scale migration of labourers from cities to their native places.

Here are the main points of the hearing:

Centre: All those on roads have been taken to shelters

Centre: Three out of 10 people going back may be carrying infection with them

Centre: 4.4 crore people had migrated to cities for work, now reverse migration happening due to corona 

CJI: Treatment of COVID-19 is top priority now

SC: Orders centre to set up information portal on COVID-19 within 24 hours

Centre: Information of first Indian returning from abroad with COVID-19 was on January 5th

SC: Need to tackle fake news and prevent panic

CJI: Panic will destroy more lives than the virus itself

Centre: We are facing an unprecedented situation. There is need for unprecedented orders

SC: Bring in volunteers to manage shelter homes and not police. There should not be use of force or intimidation

SC: Ensure that there ia enough water,  food, medicines and beds in shelters. 

Centre: We have food stocks for a year

The SC will take up the case on April 7.