Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, May 3: L Ramesh Nayak, a Tumakuru- based lawyer, has filed Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the state high court, questioning the government's action in collecting exorbitant fare from the migrant workers to send them back to their homes. He pointed out that these migrant workers are stranded in Bengaluru and other districts after the lockdown was suddenly clamped in the country and they have become desperate to go back, having no income or place to stay after they lost their jobs.

The lawyer has questioned the rationale behind the transport department's action in fixing high bus fares for these workers. He said that these are migrant workers, daily wagers and construction workers who could not go back because of lockdown. "These workers are facing a lot of problems as they are not able to go back. The government should have made arrangements on its own for their safe return. The government, which has now arranged buses for the workers, has levied high fare for them which they cannot afford to meet," he said. He also argued that this action of the government is unconstitutional and illegal.

CM promises to meet single fare: 

The government has since responded to the pleas for a concession to the migrant workers. The chief minister B S Yediyrappa announced that the state government will meet one-way fare for the workers. He has asked KSRTC to make arrangements accordingly.

He took this decision after holding discussions with Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, besides senior officials of the government. The government has decided to issue intra-district passes for one way travel on a single day to the stranded workers to enable them to either go back home or reach their places of work.