The bench was hearing a suo moto plea on the plight of drought refugees. The report had claimed that almost every year, countless such people come from the drought-affected areas in the state to Mumbai and neighbouring cities. The Maharashtra government is likely to submit a reply today in the Bombay high court listing out steps that it has taken so far to help and rehabilitate ‘drought refugees’ or people who have migrated from the drought-affected areas in the state to Mumbai and other cities. However, despite there being a constitutional requirement for the state to extend help to such people, they were left to fend for themselves. The state government had earlier said that it does not know the exact number of people who have migrated to Mumbai and adjoining areas from the drought-affected districts.

Source: Hindustan Times June 08, 2016 06:00 UTC