HC directs govt to ascertain the number of labourers stranded at Azadpur Mandi

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Model Town, to identify in two days the number of labourers stranded at the Azadpur

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Model Town, to identify in two days the number of labourers stranded at the Azadpur wholesale market who are in need of meals or shelter.

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A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad noted that the Delhi government did not have clarity on the number of labourers stranded at the Azadpur Mandi due to the lockdown. The court asked the SDM to file a detailed affidavit on this aspect and posted the next hearing for June 16.

The court issued the order while hearing a plea by the Potato and Onion Merchant Association, through its president, that sought directions to ensure that about 1,000 labourers stranded at the market are provided two meals a day, until the situation normalises.

The plea, filed through advocates Sumit Rana and Amit Jain, sought that the stranded workers be relocated to a makeshift shelter home within or around the Azadpur Mandi.

On Tuesday, advocate Anuj Aggarwal, the additional standing counsel for the Delhi government, told the court that there are two hunger relief centres within the Azadpur Mandi and two other centres within a 150-metre radius. He said that four hunger relief centres have been providing 1,300 lunch and dinner packets, each, every day.

The government told the court that there is a DUSIB shelter home at Sarai Peepal Thala near Azadpur Mandi, where the stranded persons, including the labourers, can stay.

“Besides the above, there are three temporary shelter homes established in three schools located at Model Town-III, Azadpur Colony and Dhaka Village,” Aggarwal told the court.

Disputing the facts, the counsels for the petitioner contended that the figure given by the Delhi government is far below the actual number of labourers stranded.

The court then said there is no clarity on the number of the stranded labourers and the “SDM of the area ought to have undertaken an exercise and come up with clear figures”.