On 29 March, an FIR was registered by the Delhi Police against the drivers and conductors of 44 DTC and cluster service buses. Their crime? Transporting migrants who were desperate to get home. But did these drivers act on their own? Or were they only following instructions?
Following the announcement of the 21-day lockdown to tackle the coronavirus crisis on 24 March, the nation was witness to the heartbreaking sight of thousands upon thousands of migrant workers – faced with the prospect of no wages, no food and no shelter – walking the roads and highways to get home.
No relief measures had been announced in the Centre’s order dated 24 March for the benefit of these migrants (whether for essential supplies, shelter or rent relief), and with transport services stopping because of the lockdown, the migrants had no choice but to make the long journeys to their hometowns and villages on foot.
Four days into the lockdown, some of the States woke up, and promised help for the workers to travel. Delhi, home to large populations of migrant workers from across India, was one of these, with buses arranged from Anand Vihar ISBT to take migrants to the borders of neighbouring States like Uttar Pradesh.
On 28 March, the Centre advised States to set up relief camps for the migrants, and authorised them to use State Disaster Relief Funds to provide food and shelter to them. This did not include any prohibition on travel by the migrants.
However, on 29 March, the Centre announced that these movements of migrants were “a violation of the lockdown measures on maintaining social distance.”
The buses were ordered to stop, and State/Union Territory governments were instructed to ensure they were placed in shelters with sufficient supplies, and that quarantine measures for at least 14 days were made.
And then came the consequences.
The Centre suspended or issued show cause notices to five Delhi-based bureaucrats including Additional Chief Secretary (Transport Department) Renu Sharma for failing to ensure public health and safety, citing the throng of people at the Anand Vihar bus terminal.
But that was not all. On the same evening, an FIR was filed against the drivers and conductors of 44 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster service buses who had attempted to ferry the migrants earlier in the day. When the drivers were asked why they were carrying migrant passengers without tickets, the drivers told the police that they had “orders from higher authorities”.
What Had Delhi Govt Promised?
According to The Print, the action against Sharma and the other bureaucrats for dereliction of duty was taken after a complaint from the Delhi government, in which it was alleged that the officers had “independently made the decision to arrange buses for migrants”.
However, just a day previously, on 28 March, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had tweeted that around 100 buses of the Delhi Government and around 200 of the Uttar Pradesh Government, were now transporting migrants who had been trying to leave Delhi on foot. He nonetheless appealed to migrants not to leave as this could put them at risk of contracting COVID-19, and to obey the lockdown.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal quote tweeted this statement of Sisodia’s an hour later, saying that the governments of both UP and Delhi had made arrangements for buses for the migrants. He also appealed to them to stay where they were, and assured them that his government had made arrangements for shelter, food, water, etc.
The Quint sent emails to the Delhi Chief Minister’s office, as well as the Aam Aadmi Party’s official contact ID, to get their comments on these statements, but has received no response.
We also tried calling and texting Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot to confirm whether his office had authorised the buses or not. Mr Gahlot did not take our calls, nor did he respond to messages on WhatsApp, even though whoever has access to his account has read them.
Why Has an FIR Been Filed Against the Drivers?
DTC Workers Unity Centre general secretary Rajesh Chopra told The Quint that the bus drivers would not have gone about this task without orders from their superiors.
“Whenever a bus goes out for duty, a memo is given with details of the route to be followed and what purpose the bus is going out for. The buses can only be taken out on the basis of orders from an official.”Rajesh Chopra, General Secretary, DTC Workers United Centre
Chopra suggested that while the bus drivers would know that the orders came from a DTC official, they wouldn’t necessarily know whether these had come from the Delhi Government.
He also noted that while the memo given to the buses at the start of the day specified what the bus was going out for, the drivers’ instructions could change as the day progressed, sometimes without this being expressly recorded in writing.
The Quint tried contacting the DTC to clarify what instructions had been given to the drivers in question by the DTC or the Transport Department, but the DTC spokesperson we contacted insisted that he had no idea about the FIRs and why they were registered.
In light of the statements of the Delhi Government’s seniormost officials, it is difficult to see how the FIRs were registered against bus drivers and conductors, who do not appear to have had any authority to unilaterally decide to pick up the migrants and transport them to the borders.
The FIR lists offences under Sections 269, 270 and 271 of the Indian Penal Code (relating to spread of infectious diseases) as well as Section 188 (disobeying an order of a public servant). It also claims the conduct of the staffers was a violation of Section 55 of the Disaster Management Act, which punishes violations of orders under the Act (the lockdown was announced using it) by government departments.
One explanation being offered for why the drivers – not just officials who may have given them orders – have been booked, is that the drivers were supposed to be ferrying passengers on the day, but not the migrants.
The FIR also names Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIIMTS) operations head CK Goyal. In response, Goyal told the Hindustan Times that the buses in question were on scheduled duty “and the drivers had strict instructions to serve only essential service providers”.
The Delhi Government has been running a partial bus service for people providing essential services (healthcare workers, essential goods shop personnel, journalists, municipal corporation workers, etc), and the buses reportedly had stickers indicating they were for essential services.
As neither the DTC nor the Delhi Government have responded to questions, it is unclear whether these drivers had been instructed only to ferry people providing essential services, and not to transport the migrants. Rajesh Chopra said the DTC Unity Centre has not yet been able to contact the drivers of the buses in the FIR at this time either.
This story will be updated with any responses received from the Delhi Government, DTC or the drivers.
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