Advocate Sagheer Ahmed Khan who migrated to the city from Uttar Pradesh has moved the Apex Court seeking directions for transporting migrant workers in Mumbai to their hometown in Uttar Pradesh. The petition was moved through Advocate-on-Record Ejaz Maqbool
He has also stated in his plea that he would contribute a sum of Rupees 25 lakh “towards the cost of travel of the migrants belonging to districts Basti and Sant Kabir Nagar irrespective of their caste creed and religion.”
Khan, who himself hails from Sant Kabir Nagar, stated that he first tried to help the migrants by approaching the Government of India and the State of Maharashtra. When they “failed to address the plight of life and death of the migrants”, this plea was moved before the Supreme Court.
The plea stated that migrant workers in Mumbai who have no source of livelihood due to the lockdown are constrained to leave Mumbai and are forced to travel to their hometowns in inhuman conditions. It stated,
“While some migrant workers are undertaking the journey on foot, the others are resorting to truck journeys where at least 100-120 persons are traveling in one truck.”
The plea also stated that once special trains were announced for migrants, there was a requirement of doctor’s certificate so as to rule out the possibility of contracting COVID-19 from any passenger in the train.
The petitioner has thus urged the Court to direct the Union of India and the State of Maharashtra to ensure immediate and safe evacuation of migrant workers to their hometowns, free from any technicality and under the supervision of the Apex Court.
Khan has also prayed for the government to advertise and make all attempts to disseminate all relevant information concerning such evacuation facilities to the lowest strata of the society, and to arrange a suitable train from Mumbai to Sant Kabir Nagar in UP.
Read the petition here:
