6
As stated above, we are concerned in these writ petitions
mainly with the welfare of the migrant labourers. The circular
issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 29.03.2020 has been
implemented by the various State Governments/Union Territories. The
mass migration has stopped according to Union of India.
All the
migrant labourers who were on the road have been shifted to relief
camps/shelter homes which are set up at various points in each
State/Union Territory. The directions issued by the Union of India
and the State Governments/Union Territories to provide all basic
amenities
migrants
like
are
food,
being
drinking
complied
water,
with
by
medicines,
the
etc.
concerned
to
the
District
Collectors/Magistrates.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health
Organisation (WHO), recently stated as under:
“We are not just fighting an epidemic; we are
fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster
and more easily than this virus, and is just as
dangerous.”
The migration of large number of labourers working in the
cities was triggered by panic created by fake news that the lock
down would continue for more than three months.
Such panic driven
migration has caused untold suffering to those who believed and
acted on such news. In fact, some have lost their lives in the