Centre, Delhi govt doing their best to provide food to needy amid lockdown: HC

The Delhi High Court has said that Centre and Delhi governments are doing their best to provide food, dry ration and other essential items to people in need, particularly the migrant and daily wage workers, who are going through a tough time due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

A Division Bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad made the observation on Wednesday while hearing a petition, filed by National Campaign Committee for the Eradication of Bonded Labour India News Communication Ltd, seeking supply of food and dry ration to migrants and daily wage labour at relief camps in the national capital.

Advocate Sneha Mukherjee, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that there have been several instances where the migrant and daily wage workers who are residing in some campus have gone without food.

Mukherjee said that in order to maintain social distancing, the entire family cannot be expected to go to the cooked food distribution centres which are located 1 to 1.25 km away from the labour camps to collect the ready meals on a daily basis and therefore, members of such families who are unable to go to the centres, are denied food packets.

The court asked the government whether a Nodal officer can be appointed for each of the seven clusters mentioned in the petition and their names and mobile numbers provided to counsel for the petitioner to enable her to share the same with the residents of the respective labour camps so that the Nodal officer can be approached in case any difficulty is faced.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, representing Delhi government, readily agreed to the suggestion and stated on instructions that Nodal officers for the said camps shall be appointed and their names and mobile numbers for each of the aforesaid clusters shall be conveyed to learned counsel for the petitioner.

After hearing the arguments, the court said, "There are limitations on the resources available to the government of NCT of Delhi and given the warlike situation existing on the ground, the extraordinary efforts being made by all the agencies both, at the Centre and the State, must be acknowledged."

The court disposed of the petition saying that no further order is required as the Delhi government has agreed to share names and mobile numbers of the appointed Nodal officers for the labour camps to the petitioner.

Delhi government also apprised the court about its work in the distribution of ration and cooked food in the national capital adding that about 3.54 crore units of cooked meals have been provided to the needy people as on April 20.

The government said that 1,846 and 400 hunger relief centres have been set up by the GNCTD and the government in collaboration with various NGOs respectively at several places in Delhi. It said that it has decided that over one crore people who have been adversely hit by the lockdown will be given free ration.

( With inputs from ANI )