Amid heart-wrenching reports highlighting the misery of migrant workers, the Supreme Court today ordered states to provide free food and shelter to lakhs stranded in various parts of the country due to Covid-19 lockdown.

“No fare either by train or bus shall be charged from any migrant workers. The railway fare shall be shared by the states as per their arrangement,” a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan ordered.

“Those migrant workers who are found walking on highways or roads shall be immediately taken care of by the state/UTs concerned and they shall be provided transport to the destination and all facilities, including food and water, be provided to them. The receiving state shall provide transport, health screening and other facilities free of cost,” it ordered.

The Bench, which also included Justice SK Kaul and Justice MR Shah, had on Tuesday taken suo motu cognisance of the plight of migrant labourers and asked the Centre, states and UTs to spell out measures to deal with the unfolding crisis.

Today, it issued a series of directions after hearing Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, AM Singhvi, Colin Gonsalves, Indira Jaising, PS Narsimha and other advocates representing various states and organisations “to redeem the immediate difficulties of the migrant workers.” It heard Sibal and Singhvi as “officers of the court”.

“The migrant workers who are stranded at different places shall be provided food free of cost by states/UTs concerned at different places, which shall be publicised and notified to them during the period they are waiting for their turn to board the train or bus,” it said.

The top court also directed states to “simplify and speed up the process of registration of migrant workers and also provide help desk for registration at the places where they are stranded”.

Directing the Centre and states to file their response in a week with “all necessary details regarding the number of migrant workers, the plan to transport them to their destination, the mechanism of registration and other details”, the court posted the matter for further hearing on June 5.