NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Centre on steps taken by the government authorities to stop mass exodus of migrant workers and provision of shelter and food in addition to medical check-up facilities to them during the lockdown.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao said fear and panic among migrants needed to be addressed and it would like to go through the action taken by the Centre to deal with the crisis arising out of the lockdown.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta briefed the court that the Centre is taking all necessary steps and agreed to file a status report on Tuesday. The court held proceedings through video conference and was hearing two PILs seeking direction to the Centre to stop the exodus of workers from cities to their native places as it would frustrate the objectives of the lockdown. Mehta agreed that migration needed to be prevented. The bench said it will consider passing order after going through the status report of the Centre and posted the case for hearing on Tuesday

