1.03 mn people in over 26k shelters: Centre tells SC

New Delhi As many as 26,476 relief and shelter camps across the country are housing 1.03 million migrant workers and other needy people during the Covid-19 lockdown,

New Delhi As many as 26,476 relief and shelter camps across the country are housing 1.03 million migrant workers and other needy people during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to a status report submitted by the central government before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

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Of the 26,476 camps, 22,567 are being run by governments of various states and Union territories and 3,909 by non-government organisations (NGOs). Government-run camps house around 630,000 and NGO camps some 400,000 . Additionally, food camps operated by various governments are feeding 8.4 million people.

The status report was filed on a plea filed by activists Harsh Mander and Anjali Bhardwaj seeking payment of minimum wages to all migrant workers, who are either employed by companies or contractors or self-employed. The three-week lockdown enforced on March 25 forced an exodus of such workers, mainly daily wagers, from the cities to the hinterland on concern that their livelihoods were at work.

When it comes to government- run relief camps, Kerala tops the chart with 15,541 such camps that are currently functional. The south Indian state, which reported the first coronavirus cases in the country, houses 302,016 people in these camps, the report said.

Maharashtra, which is the state with the highest number of Covid patients, is next in the list with 4,532 relief camps. Only 1,135 of these camps are government-operated and the remaining 3,397 are run by NGOs.

These 4,532 camps in Maharashtra house more than 447,000 people. NGOs run camps sheltering more than 373,000 people and the government has camps housing 73, 492.

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country, has 2,230 government-run camps housing 100,000 people. Delhi has 102 government relief camps which shelter 4,788 people.

Mander and Bhardwaj had pointed out in their petition that migrant workers are unable to earn their wages because of the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown enforced by the government to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.

The centre, in its status report, told the court that the petition was bereft of any facts and was based on newspaper reports. The petitioner, the centre stated, is in “complete and blissful ignorance” of the huge exercise being undertaken by the central government as well as by the state governments in cooperation with each other to deal with coronavirus pandemic.

“A reading of the petition clearly reflects that the petitioner wanted to file the petition and therefore, he has filed the petition without undertaking ay exercise to gather true and correct facts from the statutory authorities or from anyone else. Such attempts under the garb of public interest litigation jurisdiction deserve to be deprecated by this Hon’ble Court”, the centre’s response said.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, after going through the centre’s report, expressed its inclination to refrain from interfering with the matter which it considered was within the domain of the executive.

CJI Bobde asked advocate Prashant Bhushan who was appearing for the petitioners, as to why wages have to be paid when the workers were being housed and fed.

Bhushan pointed out that all migrant workers were not in relief camps. He also pointed out that their families were dependent on the money sent home by the workers.

The court asked Bhushan to go through the government’s report before making his arguments and posted the case for hearing on April 13.

The status report by the central government also gave details about the food camps that are currently functional in various states.

The national capital has 1,379 government food camps and 256 NGO-run food camps. The government food camps feed more than 1.2 million people. Additionally, NGO-run food camps feed more than 100,000 people in the city, the report said.

Uttar Pradesh has 2,558 food camps (893 government-run and 1,665 NGO-run) providing food to more than 1 million people.

Jharkhand has 1,432 food camps (government and NGO) and Haryana has 1,433 NGO-run food camps. Karnataka has 691 government food camps; the figure is 712 for Rajasthan.

“The central government and all state governments are doing their best, strategizing all human resources and other resources to come out of this unprecedented global crisis”, the status report said.