* Will find it difficult to meet needs of families
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 10: Large number of labourers from many parts of Jammu region, who had gone to different parts of the country to earn reasonable money, will return home empty-handed as they have exhausted all what they had saved for their families in the absence of support from the administration of such States during the ongoing lockdown imposed to contain Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Moreover, they are not sure when they will be able to see their families residing in remote corners of the Jammu region in the absence of any information either from the administration of respective States and from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir about transporting them to their home towns.
EXCELSIOR received distress calls from large number of such labourers belonging to several remote areas of Jammu region, who are still stranded in different parts of the country particularly in Uttar Pradesh where they had gone during the winters last year to earn reasonable good money as compared to wages being paid to the labour class in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory.
“We had left our native village Pogal Paristan in Ramban district in the month of November last year to earn good money by doing different types of work in the mills and factories in Uttar Pradesh”, one Veer Singh Katoch of this remote area told EXCELSIOR on telephone from Ramgarh area in Sitapur district of UP.
Disclosing that around 300 persons from Pogal Paristan and adjoining areas of Ramban are stranded in different States particularly in Sitapur and Shahjanpur districts of the Uttar Pradesh because of the lockdown imposed to contain COVID-19, he said, “during winter months we are left with little work to do in our areas as such we prefer to work in mills and factories in Uttar Pradesh for six months to meet the needs of our families”.
“Most of us prefer to work outside Jammu and Kashmir because the wages which we get while working in different States are much more than those paid locally”, said Katoch and his co-labourers who were working in sugar mills owned by Dalmia Group before the imposition of lockdown.
These labourers are following this practice during the past several years and are taken to different States for six months by local contractors, who are in contact with the owners of mills and factories. However, it was beyond their imagination that this time this practice would create numerous sufferings not only for them but their families also.
“Had there been no problem because of COVID-19 we would have returned home by the first week of April”, they said, adding “the prevailing situation has completely dashed all the hopes of our families as during the past 50 days we have exhausted all what we had saved for our families in the absence of required assistance from the administration of the districts where we are held up”.
In response to a question, they said, “ever since the imposition of lockdown the mills and factories are closed and we have been compelled to arrange food on our own as such we have been left with nothing to take back for our families”.
While some of such labourers had to carry out repairs of their houses by utilizing the saved money the others had plans to meet other urgent needs of the families but prevailing situation has left them in dilemma.
Most shocking aspect is that these labourers are still not sure when they will be able to return home as repeated contacts with the administration of States they are held up, with the administration of districts they are actually belonging to and the Nodal Officers of the J&K Union Territory Administration have failed to yield the positive results.
“Whenever we contact the concerned authorities we are told to wait”, said Veer Singh Katoch and his contractor Bhim Singh, adding “because of the uncertainty over our transportation to the home towns our families are also in distress”.
The tales of large number of labourers who are stuck in different States particularly Uttar Pradesh have clearly established that benefits of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ directives regarding movement of stranded people have not reached them till date.
“We hope that all the concerned authorities will come to our rescue on reading about our plight”, they told EXCELSIOR.
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