NHRC notices to Union Home Secretary, Railways, state governments

NHRC notices to Union Home Secretary, Railways, state governments

Migrant workers’ hardships in trains

AgenciesUpdated: Friday, May 29, 2020, 12:18 AM IST
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New Delhi

The NHRC has send notices to the Union Home Secretary, the Railways and the governments of Gujarat and Bihar over hardships faced by migrants onboard trains due to delay in services and lack of food and water allegedly leading to sickness and death of some of them, officials said on Thursday.

In a statement, the National Human Rights Commission observed the “state has failed to protect the lives of the poor labourers onboard the trains”. It has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports the trains ferrying migrant labourers are not only starting late but are taking many additional days to reach destination, it said.

“In one of the reports, it is alleged that many migrant labourers lost lives during their journey by train due to longer duration and no arrangements for drinking water and food etc,” the statement said.

Reportedly, 2 persons died in Muzaffarpur and 1 each in Danapur, Sasaram, Gaya, Begusarai and Jehanabad in Bihar, including a 4-year-old boy. All reportedly died due to hunger. “In another incident, a train reportedly started from Surat district in Gujarat for Siwan in Bihar on May 16 and reached Bihar on May 25, after 9 days,” the rights panel said.

The Commission has observed the contents of the media reports, if true, amount to gross violations of human rights. The aggrieved families have suffered irrevocable loss, it said. Accordingly, it has issued notices to the chief secretaries of Gujarat and Bihar, Chairman of the Railway Board (CRB) and Union Home Secretary seeking detailed reports.

“The chief secretaries of the governments of Gujarat and Bihar are expected to specifically inform as to what steps were taken to ensure basic facilities, including medical help for the migrant labourers who boarded the trains,” it said.

“The response from all the authorities is expected within 4 weeks positively,” the statement added.

In the last two months the lockdown to combat the spread of novel coronavirus (Covid-19), has created a huge problem of economic crisis. For the first time after Independence, people have seen the pain and plight of the migrant workers travelling back bare foot. Their pain and plight was heard by the entire nation but not by the government.

— Sonia Gandhi, Congress President

Allahabad High Court notice to Uttar Pradesh government

Prayagraj: The Allaha­bad High Court has issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government asking about steps being taken to ensure that its natives are not forced to seek employment in other states. The order was passed by a division bench of Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Ramesh Sinha on a PIL filed by two practicing advocates of the High Court.

The bench has ordered the Government to apprise it of the “"scheme of the government for rehabilitation of migrant workmen and their families in the state.”

The state has also been asked to give a complete layout to reduce migration of the natives of UP to other parts of the country to earn minimum livelihood. The government is required to file its response in the matter by June 1. The petitioners — advocates Gaurav Tripathi and Ritesh Srivastava, had submitted due to non-availability of basic infrastr­u­c­ture for employment in the State of UP, lakhs of people had migra­ted to other States to earn their livelihood. Underlining the mise­ries faced by migrants, they had submi­tted neither the Centre nor state govts where the labourers were work­ing, had ma­de arran­gements for their move­ment and their families, following which the workers and families we­re facing pathetic conditions on roads.

Allahabad High Court

Allahabad High Court | File Image

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