Fear, panic is worse than coronavirus: SC

◗ Supreme Court asked the Centre to file a status report on Tuesday, when next hearing to be held before bench

Saying the prevailing “fear and panic is worse than the coronavirus”, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to file a status report on the steps taken to address the situation, with thousands of migrants workers leaving cities and going back to their villages after losing their livelihood following the nationwide lockdown.

Seeking a response from the Centre on the two PILs seeking immediate steps to provide shelter, food and medical care to thousands of migrant workers, a bench of Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao sought the Centre’s response by

Tuesday, when the next hearing will be held before the bench. It refused to pass any order without a status report from the Centre.

The court said the Centre’s reply should address the issues raised in the two PILs – one by lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava and the other by Rashmi Bansal – both raising issues concerning migrant workers who have left the cities for their native villages.

Mr Srivastava sought immediate steps, such as food and shelter for the migrants and to prevent them going to their villages as virus-afflicted persons among them have the potential of spreading the virus in rural areas. Ms Bansal’s PIL focused on medical and safety steps to protect migrant labourers.

Making it clear it was not inclined to deal with things the government is already handling, the court told Mr Srivastava: “We noticed your petition had prayers... some of which have already been taken care of by the government.”

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta said the migration had to be stopped to prevent the spread of virus, adding that the migration was becoming a bigger problem than the coronavirus pandemic.