In a shocking reply to a question on the number of migrants dead in the draconian lockdown announced, the Modi government in Parliament claimed that no such has been maintained. On the first day of the monsoon session, the government was asked a written question whether it was aware that thousands of migrant labourers had lost their lives while going back to their homes during the lockdown and whether they had any state-wise list. Apart from this, the government was also asked whether it had provided any compensation or financial assistance to the families of such victims.
No data on migrant's death, so no question of compensation: Government
While giving a written reply to this question, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said that no such data is available and since such data is not collected, there is no question of giving compensation to the families of the victims. In its response, the ministry also said that it has not kept an eye on the jobs lost during the pandemic and it does not have any data related to it.
It is to be noted that after the national lockdown imposed in March to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, lakhs of migrant labourers were on their way to their homes and for the first time in the history of independent India, such a large number of migrations were seen. Many of such labourers lost their lives while going their home. The deaths did not stop even after the Railways arranged special trains to ferry a large number of migrants.
The labour ministry also highlighted that Indian Railways ran more than 4,611 Shramik Express trains to take home the migrant labourers. According to the response, more than 63.07 lakh migrant labourers were transported to different places through these trains.
