Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 16: CPI (M) leader Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami has said that the lockdown has further increased the sufferings of the poor and marginalized sections of the society and the Government must focus and address the emerging problems from the lockdown.
“Thousands of labourers, students, shawl/handicraft vendors and patients visiting AIIMS in New Delhi, PGI, Chandigarh, Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai and other medical institutions from Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakah are stuck in different parts of the country. The miseries of these stranded people amid Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown have worsened,” he said in a statement.
Pointing out that the temperature in most of the States outsides J&K was rising, Tarigami said that these people are facing another crisis as at several places, the stranded labourers are living under tarpaulin tents in miserable conditions, amid hot and humid conditions.
“The Government has announced food and shelter for the stranded labourers, but ground level reports reveal that these workers are facing scarcity of food and shelter. They have exhausted their earnings and are facing immense difficulties. Food is the foremost concern. There are reports some of the stranded labourers are surviving on one meal a day and others are completely at the mercy of expected good Samaritans,” he said.
Tarigami said that without undermining the efforts to combat COVID-19, a serious view should be taken to facilitate the return of these stranded persons. Recent guidelines by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs are disappointing and they need a review so that process for return of this sizable section of population is addressed, he said and added that all these stranded people from Jammu and Kashmir want to come back and remain in mandatory quarantine. “It is imperative to maintain social distancing and lockdown. But on the other hand, those stranded can’t be left unattended. There is lot of uncertainty among their families,” he said.
“We appeal to all the shades of opinion to raise their voice for legitimate demands of people. The migrant workers can’t be left to the mercy of others, unsure about their next day’s ration, away from family and friends, cooped up inside hostile camps in the middle of a global pandemic and bare bodied to every form of infection,” said Tarigami.
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