Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 1: Reacting sharply to the Pakistani shelling on innocent civilians in Poonch sector resulting in killing of 12th class student, former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla appealed for ending the bloodshed of innocent people residing near the borders.
He demanded concrete steps so that lives of innocent civilians, including women and children who are under virtual siege from the past one month are safeguarded.
Bhalla expressed concern over ignoring of local people who lost their daily earning due to lock down including drivers, conductors, peons, chowkidars and those belonging to labour class as they can’t move out of their houses to earn their living since March.
“These people are without wages as no work no pay formula applies to them in private and unorganised sector,” he said adding that some of the truck, taxi, auto, matador and bus drivers are sitting without salaries and they have no money to pay fee of their school going children. He appealed Lieutenant Governor of J&K UT to issue directions to the concerned authorities to deliver the necessary food items to the local needy residents.
Bhalla noted that because they could not go out to work for their daily income, they have limited resources to fend for themselves and their family.
“We need to do more as a people to alleviate the suffering of this disadvantaged and vulnerable group, Bhalla said.
He, however, acknowledged the efforts of all those who have gone out to support and provide some essential items to the less privileged.
“We need an immediate action plan to manage our agriculture and livestock sectors in the interest of both producers and consumers,” he said.
He said, the first thing is to ensure free movement of farm produce, livestock feed and veterinary medicines, adding that it is obvious that not all issues can be addressed overnight, but the minimum the government can do is to ensure ground level implementation of already taken decisions.
“The Centre has issued various directives/notifications, many of them brief and general in nature. Based on these, the chief secretaries of states have issued circulars to their respective district administrations. Many of these have either not reached the local authorities and police personnel or are not clearly worded. As a result, the smooth movement of essential items has been affected,” Bhalla maintained.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
