Govt maintains silence over hardships of people
Nishikant Khajuria
Jammu, Mar 26: The unprecedented lockdown across Jammu and Kashmir along with other parts of the country in view of COVID-19 threat has rendered thousands of J&K residents stranded away from their respective homes.
While a number of J&K residents are held up in other parts of the country, hundreds of locals are stranded away from their homes within Jammu Kashmir as the administration has not yet come forward to help them reaching to their destinations.
These stranded people include students, workers in small trading activities and their families, who are helplessly waiting at different locations for some mode of transportation to reach at their homes. Because of complete lockdown and curfew like restrictions because of Coronavirus threat, no transport is available for these stranded people, who are also running short of money and eatables.
Official sources told the Excelsior that around one thousand such stranded people were today registered at General Bus Stand Jammu, where they had assembled in big number after coming to know that the administration was ferrying held up passengers in the State Road Transport Corporation buses to their native places.
Even as Police registered all their details like permanent and temporary addresses, telephone numbers besides medical history and reason of leaving Jammu , no transport was provided to these stranded people, who kept waiting till late evening. “We have been told to wait for a response from the District Administration, which will take a decision on us,” said a labourer of Kishtwar.
Hundreds of people from Kashmir, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar, Poonch and other parts of J&K, working as labourers or helpers at industrial units, brick kilns, shops and small trading activities here, are leaving Jammu for their native places as all the commercial establishments are closed following 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We are running short of food and money and hence have no option other than to return home till the crisis settles down,” said Sadhu Ram, who is working as a labourer in a bakery shop in Jammu city, which was shut two days back following the announcement of lockdown.
Besides these stranded people here, hundreds of J&K residents, who had gone to other parts of the country for studies, labour work or small trading activities, are also held up away from their homes. As these people can not leave their respective places or enter J&K, they are virtually without resources to survive for long.
Reports from Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other parts of the country said that hundreds of labourers, mostly hailing from erstwhile Doda district, are stuck there without food and other daily needs. These held up people are making distress calls to their family members and relatives for urging the J&K Government to make necessary arrangements for their return to homes.
However, despite repeated attempts, there was no response from the Divisional Commissioner Jammu and other Government authorities looking after the arrangements in this regard.
On the other hand, thousands of labourers from other parts of the country, who are staying here along with their families, are also facing similar difficulties to feed themselves because of no work and Government assistance.
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