In June, the Chief Labour Commissioner had been directed by the Central Information Commission to upload all data about all the stranded migrant workers and asked for updation of the information from time to time.
“No such data is available”, said the Ministry of Labour and Employment in a written reply to the parliament as a response to a question whether thousands of migrant labourers lost their lives due to the emergency nationwide lockdown imposed in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic which started on March 25 this year.
The centre informed the parliament on Monday about the unavailability of the data on the deaths of migrant labourers and refuted the question of compensation or aid given to the victim’s family by saying, “Question does not arise in view of the previous question.”
The government further added that no track of the job losses amid the pandemic was maintained by saying, “No such data is maintained.”
Migrant workers were among the worst hit in the 68-day nationwide lockdown. Many of them were stranded in cities miles away from their hometown without any employment or means of transport. Homeless and desperate, a large number of workers resorted to walking miles on foot to reach their hometown.
The government stated that more than 4,611 Shramik Special trains were run by the Indian Railways to help the labourers return home. “More than 63.07 lakh migrant workers have been shifted to various destinations located in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and other States. Food and water was also provided free of cost to the workers during their journey,” it said.
According to a World Bank report in April this year, the nationwide lockdown has impacted the livelihood of nearly 40 million internal migrants with small traders and daily wage labourers being among the worst hit.
On whether the government had failed to assess the issues faced by the labourers, the center replied, “India, as a nation, has responded through the Central government, state governments, local bodies, self-help groups, Resident Welfare Associations, medical health professionals, sanitation workers as well as a large number of genuine and bonafide non-governmental organizations in the Nation’s fight against the unprecedented human crisis due to the outbreak of Covid – 19 and country-wide lockdown, including Tamil Nadu.”
