Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, May 10: About 200 migrant labourers are stranded at gateway of Lakhanpur for last two days who reached here from different areas of Jammu region by foot to leave for their home States but were not allowed to cross the J&K border by police.
These laborers included factory and brickkiln workers as well as farm labourers besides some Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims who were stuck at some places since March 20.
These pilgrims said that they came by foot to Lakhanpur day before yesterday but were not allowed to cross the border towards Punjab by police and administration. They said they have run short of money as well and their families are also in great agony and pain as they are perturbed for their welfare. These pilgrims and labourers are from the States of Rajasthan, MP and UP. They even begged before the administration to allow them to leave for their home States as they have exhausted the entire money which was with them.
Among the pilgrims was one handicapped person who had come from Rajasthan on his tricycle and was also stuck for over a month. He too reached Lakhanpur two days back along with his other group members but was not allowed to proceed ahead.
As the transport was off the roads, some of the labourers who were working in Jammu said that they purchased eight secondhand bicycles for Rs 4000 each to leave for their home States on them. “We reached here yesterday but were not allowed to move ahead by police”, said one among the group of labourers.
The labourers also alleged that they tried to cross Lakhanpur bridge, yesterday but police chased them and beat them ruthlessly. Some labourers who reached Lakhanpur during late last night were hungry and the local residents arranged meals for them.
Some labourers especially women wept while narrating their tale of woes saying when there was no transportation facility they had no alternative but to leave on foot as they were stuck in Jammu for last two months. “Now we are also waiting here for last two days and the authorities are not allowing us to leave ahead” said Lajwanti a woman from Rajasthan.
She said when people from Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and other States come here why Government has not made arrangements to send them to their States in those buses which carry the labourers from these States. Though these buses return empty from here, the Government has not taken steps to send the stranded people from here in them, she added.
“We are poor people and illiterate as we don’t know whom to approach and where to go. They ask us to go to Control Room and what is Control Room a labour can’t understand”, said Sahu Kumar another labourer from Rajasthan, “Even we visited DC Office with application but no one received it there too”’, he added.
He said there is no registration facility for the labourers who are in total desperation as they have no money to sustain themselves. He said the lockdown has created an uncertainty for them and there is no fun to stay at Jammu as the lockdown may be extended further in view of spreading of COVID-19.
Though the maximum Industrial labour in Kathua area has left towards their home States, but those of the Chenab Textile Mills (CTM) are still there. These workers protested in Kathua two days back and majority of them also want to return to their home States in view of lockdown as the worries of their children and other family members haunt them.
When contacted Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh said that he will discuss the issue with the UT authorities including DC Kathua to find out possibilities of sending them back to their respective States.
DC Kathua, O P Bhagat, however, said that the list of these labourers is being framed so that they can be deported in the buses coming from their respective States properly. But they will not be allowed to cross the Lakhanpur the way they wanted, he added.
These labourers also met Advisor to Governor, Farooq Khan at Lakhanpur during his visit today and narrated their tale to him. They sought his intervention in facilitating their return to their home States.
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