Over 40,000 stranded JK residents brought back home
Jammu: Over 40,000 people from Jammu and Kashmir stranded in various parts of the country due to the coronavirus lockdown have been brought back home, officials said on Wednesday.
A total of 39,825 residents of the union territory were brought back to their home through buses, while 3,217 stranded people reached Udhampur on three special trains from Karnataka, Goa and Delhi, an official spokesperson said.
As many as 169 persons will reach Srinagar from Dhaka, Bangladesh, on a special flight, he said.
The administration has assured that all the residents of the union territory stranded in Bangladesh will be brought back to their homes.
“The first flight from Bangladesh with 81 students arrived in Srinagar on May 8 and the second flight with 169 students arrived on Tuesday. To date, 419 students from Bangladesh have arrived in J and K,” the spokesperson said.
Upon their arrival in Srinagar, the students were screened and their samples were taken for COVID-19 testing, he said.
Of the total 39,825 returnees till date, 10,743 came from Punjab, 18,111 from Himachal Pradesh, 10,971 from other states and UTs including Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Madhya Pradesh, as per an official communique by Commissioner Secretary, Jal Shakti, Ajeet Sahu.
The fourth train from Goa carrying 697 stranded passengers is expected to reach Udhampur by this evening, the spokesperson said.
Commissioner Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, who is also the Nodal Officer for management of return of stranded people at Udhampur, and District Development Commissioner, Piyush Singla are personally monitoring the facilities being extended to the passengers during their de-boarding and movement to their home districts at the Udhampur railway station, he said.
Returnees from Goa, Bangalore demand better facilities at quarantine centres
Srinagar: Dozens of locals from Kashmir who returned back from Goa and Bangalore Wednesday staged a protest and refused to enter into quarantine centre located in Pampore and Srinagar saying that rooms are not only in dilapidated condition but have not been cleaned after these were vacated by Covid-19 infected patients.
Over 1200 locals from Kashmir were brought back to Valley from Indian Southern state Goa. They boarded train in Udhumpur and reached Valley where they have been put in administrative quarantine.
Among these 1200 returnees, over 75 people including females and children were taken to a government building in Pampore. These people refused to enter into rooms after finding them filthy and unhygienic.
“The rooms we have been directed to occupy were earlier occupied by infected people from Kulgam. Over 18 patients who stayed in these rooms from Kulgam were found positive for Covid-19 infection. These have not been cleaned and everything is in dilapidate condition,” they said.
“We staged a protest demanding that we should be quarantined at any place in Srinagar which is clean and disinfected,” they said and alleged that police was called to force them to enter into the building.
They appealed authorities to get them quarantined at a better place.
Meanwhile, at least 60 students, who arrived from Karnataka complained about the lack of facilities at the quarantine centre in Srinagar stating that they didn’t even get masks let alone sanitizers.
Expressing resentment over the alleged failure of government in dealing with the flow of students returning from various parts of India, the students complained that the UT government didn’t provide them the food, masks and sanitizers despite tall claims.
The students said that on their arrival this afternoon around 12:00 PM no food was served to us till 06:30 PM leaving us to starve and carve for drop of water.
The students said that they left from Karnataka on May 10 early morning and all the arrangements including food and other measures were put in place which was worth appreciation.
“One of our colleagues Umer Ahmad coordinated with the local administration and police to prepare the list and volunteered the evacuation process,” the students said.
“On our arrival to Jammu railway station busses arranged by union territory authorities ferried us to Srinagar and lodged us there where we found nothing other than the walls. We didn’t even get masks, santizers and were not even provided with the food.”
They said among the 60 students half are girls and all have been bundled in two halls without food and other facilities, we were not served food for over six hours since arrival but after 06:30 PM a cup of tea was served.
They also said that none among the 60 students is wearing a face mask and that they are vulnerable to get exposed to deadly virus. (with KNT and KNO inputs)
KV News
