Taking undue advantage, private transporters fleecing labourers

Labourers who reached from other States waiting at Lakhanpur to be taken to their respective districts on Wednesday. —Excelsior/Pardeep
Labourers who reached from other States waiting at Lakhanpur to be taken to their respective districts on Wednesday. —Excelsior/Pardeep

3-time higher fares charged

Avtar Bhat

KATHUA, May 13: Taking undue advantage of nationwide lockdown enforced due to spread of dreaded COVID-19, the private transporters are fleecing the stranded laborers and other passengers of J&K trapped in different States of the country.
Hundreds of labourers and private sector employees who reached here from the States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh alleged that they were fleeced by the private transporters who charged them three times rate than the normal fare for carrying them up to Lakhanpur from different States of the country where they were stuck for about two months of lockdown.
These labourers belonging to various parts of Kathua , Jammu, Samba and Udhampur districts of Jammu region also termed the claims of the respective State Governments of providing free bus services to J&K labourers totally baseless and misleading as no free buses were provided to them but they were charged double and triple rates by the private transporters by taking undue advantage of the situation created due to Coronavirus pandemic.
Three labourers Parveen Kumar, Prem Chand and Neeraj Kumar who were leading a group of 60 laborers working in small factories and transport companies in Gujarat’s Surat city and reached Lakhanpur late last night told this correspondent that they were charged Rs three lakh by a bus from Surat to Lakhanpur. “The State Government announced that they will provide buses to stranded laborers but it all proved false and we were compelled to arrange the bus on our own”, said Parveen Kumar.
Same were the tales of Des Raj of Kathua and Mohammed Aslam of Udhampur who were working in Agra, UP. Des Raj was stuck along with 100 labourers of Jammu province in Agra. He said they were charged Rs 3000 per person from Agra to Lakhanpur by the transporters. “First the Government did not grant permission to us to travel to our home town but later they agreed and when we arranged the two buses they charged Rs 3000 per passenger from Agra to Jammu”, he added.
“We were compelled to pay the amount as there was no other alternative than it as the memories of our children and homesickness haunted us”. “Moreover there was every apprehension of lockdown getting extended which would create further problems for us,”said Mohammed Aslam.
“Even some labourers walked by foot upto eight to 10 kms to board the buses and we were promised to be deported at Udhampur or Jammu but later the buses returned from Lakhanpur after alighting us at gateway of J&K as authorities did not permit them to proceed ahead”, he added.
Om Dutt and Joginder Singh who were stuck at Jaipur Rajasthan where they had gone in November last year to work during the winter months as laborers to earn money for their families said that whatever they earned has been spent by them to feed themselves during lockdown period as no ration and relief was provided to them from any quarter. They said they also arranged private buses on their own by collecting Rs 2500 per head from each passenger visiting from Jaipur to Jammu and paid that amount to a private bus owner who brought us here, they added.
They said even the Rajasthan Government announced that Roadways buses would be provided to J&K labourers but this all proved baseless as no bus turned up to carry the labourers to J&K. “We also contacted the administration in J&K through various channels requesting them to evacuate us from here but no one heard our woes”, they added.
The Government only responded after we had left Jaipur, they said, adding even they were not provided any ration or relief by Rajasthan Government during lockdown period. They said they were forced not to maintain social distancing in the buses as the fare was so high that “we could not book another bus to maintain social distance”.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here