The Bombay high court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to take an appropriate decision on sharing the transport costs of migrant workers returning homes.

From Saturday, restaurants, eateries, sweet shops, ice-cream parlours and juice vends can home deliver from 7am to 7pm. But dining will not be allowed at the joints.​

Opposition and Karnataka residents slammed the state government for treating migrant workers as "bonded labour" and holding them against their will.

The uncertainties over their return to native states has left the temper of migrants frayed.

The project aims to gather information about the spread of coronavirus, assessing the emergency response and tackling the misinformation during the crisis.

At least 22 migrant labourers, who had returned from Andhra Pradesh, escaped from a COVID-19 quarantine centre in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said on Friday.

The accident left 16 migrant workers dead and one injured while three others survived. All of them were working in a steel manufacturing in Jalna.

Sixteen workers were killed on Friday morning after they stopped for rest on the railway tracks in Aurangabad. They had walked 45 km from Jalna to Aurangabad, and were going towards Bhusawal, another 120 km, on foot in hopes of catching a train.

On learning about the sudden rush of people at the deputy collector's office near Gota bridge, police officials immediately reached the spot and persuaded the migrants, mostly from UP and Bihar, to disperse.

The high court, in its interim order passed on Thursday, had suggested the state should ensure that only those who have tested negative for COVID-19 are allowed to return.

The charge of provocation to cause riots has been levelled against the workers allegedly for helping the migrant workers.

The Indian Railways reaction came minutes after the TMC said they planned to run eight trains to ferry migrants from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Telangana over the next three days.

'Eleven trains carrying people from other states have already reached Madhya Pradesh and 10 more are coming on Saturday,' Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.

The national transporter has planned to operate 47 trains on Saturday, out of which 34 trains have already departed, officials said.

In the country as per estimates 44 crore people work in the unorganised sector in different places in the country and during the initial period of the lockdown people are seen walking to their native places.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that only two days ago, a "tughlaqi farmaan" was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs "which is very quaint and funny".

A couple of stinging tweets appeared during the day on the official Twitter handle of the ailing septuagenarian, who is serving sentences in fodder scam cases in Ranchi.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said Congress are working out the modalities to ensure that every worker and migrant stranded reaches home safely.

Sources also say that senior Congress leaders like Bhupinder Hooda, Kumari Selja, Ashok Gehlot among other have been asked to mobilise funds for the mission.

The CM said Students' fares were being paid directly by his government to the railways, while migrant workers will be reimbursed the entire expenses they incurred on the journey once they have completed their 21-day quarantine after reaching Bihar.

A controversy had erupted on Monday after several opposition parties demanded that migrant workers should not be charged for the train tickets.

The Congress said the decision to go back or stay in the state should be with the labourers and not the government, with the former being free to choose health or work.

Union Home Minister Shah, in a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said the West Bengal government is not allowing trains with migrant workers to reach the state that may further create hardship for the labourers.

The newspaper, Saamana, however, did not make it clear whether it blamed the BJP-led Centre or the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government for the tragedy.

Migrant camps were "very prone" to spreading the disease, IOM Director General Antonio Vitorino told reporters in an online briefing.

Earlier, Sonu Sood started a ration drive to help the needy during the ongoing lockdown. He also offered his hotel in Juhu for healthcare workers.

Hundreds of migrant workers came onto the streets and clashed with the police at a village in Surat district of Gujarat today to demand that they either be sent back to their home states or allowed to...

The West Bengal government on Saturday refuted the allegations of non-cooperation by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and said that it has facilitated the return of around 6,000 migrants stranded outside...

While nearly eight lakh migrant workers stranded in Haryana have registered themselves on a government portal to return to their native states, over 1.5 lakh of them have applied on the same portal...

New Delhi, May 09: Union Home Minister, Amit Shah has written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urging her to allow trains with migrants to reach the state. Shah in his letter pointed out that Bengal was not allowing the

New Delhi, May 09: The West Bengal government has allowed 8 trains with migrants following a letter by Union Home Minister, Amit Shah. Union Home Minister, Amit Shah had written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urging her to allow

The court also suggested that the government should publicise the decision so that migrant workers learn about it.

His appeal came on a day 16 migrants were crushed under a goods train in Maharashtra when they were sleeping on rail tracks during their return home in Madhya Pradesh.

In a statement, Thorat, who is also the state Congress president, alleged that arbitrary decisions taken by many states regarding migrant workers had worsened the situation.

After several failed crossings from Libya to Italy and a long spell in detention, Nigerian migrant Olu had pinned his hopes on being evacuated from the besieged city of Tripoli with his family.

To control the situation, police resorted to lathi-charge, following which the crowd was dispersed.

Shah said that the Centre has facilitated more than two lakh migrants workers to reach home. However, the central government is not getting the Bengal government's support in helping migrant labourers reach home, the Home Minister said.

Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, [2019]

London : Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

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