Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Thursday told the Supreme Court that migrant workers were returning to cities to reclaim their old jobs as “lockdown is over”, “economy is opening up” and the situation is turning “very healthy”. The Supreme Court was hearing compliance reports by the Centre and States on the return of migrant workers to their native states, which it had earlier directed the government to ensure.
Mehta, who was appearing for the Maharashtra government, was expressing his view on what the Bihar government called the “reverse migration” of migrant workers who had gone home to their villages during the lockdown.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Bihar government, said trains from Patna were running full. “Reverse migration is happening. Now the workers are going back to their own jobs. Trains are full from Patna,” he said.
