Coronavirus crisis: Landlords can't ask rent from students, workers for 1 month

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an order which stops landlords from demanding rent from students, workers and migrant labourers for a month. Those landlords who force people to vacate their houses will face action, the statement warns.

It also urges states to provide food and shelter to thousands of migrant workers who are without jobs and essentials amid the ongoing lockdown. The MHA order also instructs states to enforce a 14-day quarantine on workers who have left for their hometowns.

MHA order, issued under the Disaster Management Act, reads, "The states and Union territories shall ensure adequate arrangements of temporary shelters, and provisions of food etc. for the poor and needy people, including migrant labourers, stranded due to lockdown measures in their respective areas."

"The migrant people who have moved out to reach to their home states/home towns must be kept in the nearest shelter by the respective state/union territory government quarantine facilities after proper screening for a minimum period of 14 days," it adds.

The order also states that the employers must pay wages to their workers without any deduction and on due dates.

A large number of migrant workers are stranded in big cities after the government announced a 21-day lockdown which ends on April 14. Unable to find any means of transport, many such migrant workers have stepped out on national highways to walk to their villages hundreds of kilometres away.

Seeing their plight, some state governments have made arrangements for their transport, accommodation and food.

Coronavirus has killed 25 people in India, while over 950 have been infected.

(With inputs from PTI)