Maharashtra Police found over 300 migrant workers holed up inside two container trucks meant for carrying essential commodities from Telangana to Rajasthan.
'Why has this turned out to be one of the greatest humanitarian crisis that has caught the Centre and the states in a bind with no answers to this unexpected tsunami?' asks Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao refused to entertain an application seeking a direction to the Centre to ask all district magistrates to identify stranded migrant workers and provide shelter, food to them before ensuring their free transportation to native places in view of the recent incident at Aurangabad in which 16 workers were mowed down by a goods train.
YouTuber Manish Kashyap, arrested for spreading fake videos on Bihar migrant labours being attacked in Tamil Nadu, has been booked under the National Security Act (NSA) on Thursday, police said.
The decision was praised by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who said it would be an inspiration for everyone.
'Those who call for war from far-off places should realise the repercussions it has on the people who are actually affected.'
The SOP said the train schedule, protocols for entry and movement of passengers, services to be provided in coaches, and arrangements with states and UTs for booking of tickets shall be publicised by the MOR.
'40 percent of voters in Bihar will be excluded.'
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader also said that the troubles of the hapless workers grew manifold, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, as their employers did not implement the provisions of the existing Inter State Migrant Labour Act, 1979.
Local residents said a migrant labourer was injured in the incident, while a few houses in the area also sustained damage. Parts of the unidentified object were lying in the area, they said.
The gravity of the situation hit Tajinder Singh Dhillon hard when he happened to tune in to a news channel one evening a week ago.
Though authorities and NGOs have made arrangements for their food, most of them want to go back to their native places to escape the hardship brought by the sweeping curbs.
The Government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme, 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan', to "empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens". Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch this scheme on June 20 through video conference in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party said on Monday the railways has subsidised 85 per cent of ticket fare for special trains being run to transport migrant workers and the state government has to pay the remaining 15 per cent, soon after the Congress attacked the central government over the issue.
The earthquake caused widespread structural damage, toppling buildings, buckling roads, collapsing bridges, even breaching a dam.
Expressing surprise over political parties not coming forward in filing objections related to 65 lakh excluded voters, the top court directed the chief electoral officer of Bihar to implead them in the court proceedings.
The FIR has been lodged against Prashant Kumar Umrao, a lawyer, whose verified Twitter handle says he is a spokesperson for Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including those for provocation with intent to cause riot, promoting enmity and hatred, provoking breach of peace and statement leading to public mischief, police said.
Left to its machinations, the BJP would have loved to cut Nitish down to size, but it can't afford to do so as the JD-U is in alliance with the BJP at the Centre, and cannot form a government on its own in Bihar. For now, both need each other: Nitish for legitimacy, the BJP for numbers, points out Ramesh Menon.
'It is for the first time in Independent India that collection of information on caste is being done.'
The accused, Rahul Kulkarni, based in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra, has been detained and police are in the process of bringing him to Mumbai.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the government's decision to transport migrant workers, stranded during the lockdown, to their villages.
Of the total trains, 2,875 have terminated, while 401 are in transit. The top five states and union territories from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat (897), Maharashtra (590), Punjab (358), Uttar Pradesh (232) and Delhi (200).
According to the report, the magnitude of internal migration is about two-and-a-half times that of international migration.
"Over 5.42 lakh migrants were screened by health workers and among them 1,230 have been found positive for coronavirus. Samples of 46,142 have been sent for testing," said Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad in Lucknow.
Thackeray said he was in constant touch with the Centre over the issue of running more trains to ferry migrant labourers, stranded due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, to their native places.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to revise electoral rolls in Bihar. The hearing is scheduled for July 10.
'What is going on is the under counting of the migration population in urban areas.' 'It has been going on in the last few censuses.'
Noting there have been instances of "excess" by police and paramilitary personnel against the migrant workers, the court also asked authorities to consider "withdrawal" of criminal cases against some of them for violating social distancing norms.
A meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday afternoon will see the leaders of around 20 opposition parties come together on a common platform through video-conferencing.
As the Centre's decision ahead of the end of the 40-day lockdown brought cheers to lakhs of migrant workers across the country, quarantine centres and shelter homes were also being readied for the returning migrants with Uttar Pradesh alone preparing to receive an estimated 10 lakh people.
States were directed to ensure there is no movement of people across cities or on highways. Only movement of goods should be allowed.
Each train is likely to carry around 1,000-1,200 passengers, keeping in mind the social-distancing protocol.
Referring to various media reports showing the 'unfortunate and miserable conditions' of migrant labourers walking on foot and cycling long distances after the lockdown, the top court issued notices to the Centre, the states and union territories and sought their replies by May 28.
'The government will have to provide something for migrant workers or 'Farmers will still survive because they will eat what they produce.' 'What will the rest of the people do? What will happen to them?'omething else like that or else you will see some huge uprising or unrest.'
He had uploaded a video on social media in which he demanded that the Maharashtra government make travel arrangements for migrants, who are stranded due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and want to go back to their native places.
To capture the information regarding movement of migrants and facilitate the smooth movement of stranded persons across the states, National Disaster Management Authority has developed an online dashboard namely, National Migrant Information System, on the existing NDMA-GIS portal
'They mean business, but business as usual is unacceptable to them'
In his order, the DM said it had come to light that in the present situation of a complete lockdown, several landlords were forcing migrant workers to pay the house rent, leaving them with no other choice but to vacate the place.
A day after opposition parties, including the Congress launched a scathing attack against the Union government and the railways for charging money from migrants for the travel, sources in the railways said the national transporter is spending around Rs 80 lakh per service for the special trains, and it has run 67 such trains carrying around 67,000 stranded migrants since May 1--- incurring an expenditure of over Rs 50 crore.
In an order, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said buses shall be used for transport of such groups of stranded people and these vehicles will be sanitised and will have to follow safe social distancing norms in seating.
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