A survey conducted by the labour department has shown that half of the migrants in Gujarat are based in and around Surat.
Ahemdabad| The state government should bear the fare of the migrant workers returning to their home states, or the Railways should grant a waiver, Gujarat High Court has said.
On Friday, a division bench of the state High Court pulled up the Railway officials for levying charges for transportation of the migrant labourers and ordered the Railways to either waive off one-way charges of the journey or to recover such amounts from the respective State Governments.
The High Court had sought a detailed report from the govt regarding the step takes to improve the situation in the suo moto case filed on the issue of migrant workers and spread of novel coronavirus infection in the state of Gujarat.
On Friday, the Gujarat government told the high court that since several migrants had come to the state on their own, provisions of the Inter-state Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1979 that covered displacement allowance and journey charges did not apply to them.
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Governments of Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have agreed to deposit travelling charges with the Railways, the report stated.
A survey conducted by the labour department has shown that half of the migrants in Gujarat are based in and around Surat.
The report put the total number of migrant workers in Gujarat at 22.5 lakh, āprior to them being allowed to return to their native statesā.
The 11.5 lakh inter-state migrant workers are engaged in sugarcane factories, power looms and diamond industry, as per the state government.
(Inputs from Agencies)
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