HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court (HC) on Friday directed advocate K Pavan Kumar to visit Medchal, find out if migrant workers are stranded there and what facilities are being provided to them by the government. Appointing Pavan Kumar as Advocate Commissioner in a PIL case, the bench also ordered him to find out about the transport arrangements being made for them, and submit a detailed report.
It directed the Secretary of the Rangareddy District Legal Services Authority to accompany Pavan Kumar to Medchal, and the Collector to extend all required facilities to him during his visit. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, passed the order through video conference in the PIL filed by Prof Rama Shankarnarayan Melkote, a social activist. The PIL sought directions against the police for forcibly transporting the workers in RTC and private buses to the Bhoraj check post in Adilabad on NH-44 on the Telangana-Maharashtra border.
The petitioner’s counsel, Vasudha Nagaraj, stated that about 500-600 workers are still stranded at Medchal. But the government’s counsel denied the claims. The contradictory statements led to the bench appointing an Advocate Commissioner. It ordered the government to pay a fee of `50,000 to Pavan Kumar, and posted the matter to June 2.
Labourers pour in at Medchal transit camp
Nearly 700 migrant workers landed up at the Medchal transit camp after the Shramik train services were temporarily stopped. Volunteers at the camp said donors managed to arrange for four buses — two for Odisha and one each for Jharkhand and UP — for hardly 160 workers.
“We are trying to convince the workers to shift to the local function halls. But many are still walking back to their hometowns,” Srinivas Kumar Sajja, a volunteer, said. Meanwhile, the HC-appointed amicus curiae visited the transit camp. “When the Advocate General visited, the function hall had 700 workers. This in itself is an indication to the number of people walking on highways. This is happening because the State is not organising adequate number of trains and buses. ,” advocate Vasudha Nagraj said.