New Delhi, March 31: While responding to a plea on stranded labourers in the Supreme Court, the Centre told the bench that no migrants were left on the road by 11 am on Tuesday. The remarks by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta came in response to a petition which asked the top court to direct necessary measures for providing food and shelter to daily wagers and migrant labours hit by the coronavirus lockdown. Catch all the live updates related to coronavirus outbreak in India and other parts of the world.

The plea was filed by advocate AA Srivastava, who wanted the court to take cognisance of reports which have documented the plight of migrants. The petitioner told the bench that lakhs of migrants have lost their accommodations following the lockdown, which has forced them to undertake a foot-journey of thousands of miles back to their villages.

Reacting to the plea, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde had asked the government to list the measures which have been taken to mitigate the plight of migrant labourers. He asked the Centre to form an expert committee within the next 24 hours to look into the issue.

Update by ANI

"The Home Secretary is saying that as of 11 am this morning, nobody is on the road. They have been taken to the nearest available shelter," S-G Tushar Mehta was reported as saying.

"We are considering providing counseling to address the panic. Over 22 lakh 88 thousand people being provided food. These are needy persons, migrants and daily wagers. They have been kept in shelters," he further added.

The 21-day lockdown, which came into effect from March 24 midnight, will continue till April 15. The curfew-like restrictions were announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to minimise the risk of community spread of coronavirus. On his Mann Ki Baat radio address on Sunday, Modi said he wants to apologise to the nation for making them bear the hardship. But the measures are necessitated to save the lives of everyone, he added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2020 01:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).