President J&K National Conference Dr Farooq Abdullah Friday urged the religious scholars and the community leaders to lend support to the government efforts to help contain COVID-19 in J&K.
While advising the people to follow the governmentadvisories, the MP from Srinagar solicited “joint efforts to stop Covid-19 fromspreading”.
“Religious scholars have a pivotal role to play in theprecarious situation that is underway. They are the transmitters of knowledge;they should come forward to support the government in dealing with thepandemic.
“Need of the hour demands a multifarious strategy to fightthe outbreak; having community leaders, local press, electronic media and radioon board will help impede the spread of outbreak,” Abdullah said in astatement.
Showing concern for the wellbeing of daily wagers, hawkersand others, he said, “The government is duty-bound to come to their rescue. Alarge chunk of our population lives by hand to mouth. The lockdown postAugust-5 has already had a crushing impact on the small scale businessmen,traders, daily wagers and hawkers. Government should waive off impending duesfor some time and help those whose livelihood has been affected due to thepresent worrying situation.”
He said, “The government should give ration to BPLfamilies on complimentary basis and for APL families it should be subsidizedfurther. Stalls should be set up at various points across J&K, where freesoaps, disinfectants and sanitizers be made available to people particularlythe poor, the tribal people, and those living in far flung areas.
“Elderly people who are drawing pension through differentsocial schemes should also be taken care of. The situation is unprecedented andrequires a strong response from government,” he said.
‘Avoid visiting my residence; follow health advisories’
Meanwhile, NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah has requested allwell wishers, workers, party functionaries to refrain from visiting hisresidence, “which has been seeing huge public gatherings following hisrelease”.
He said that the measure is for time being in order to helpavoid transmission of fatal virus. He said that he in all earnest does not wantpeople to suffer following a positive case of COVID-19 in Srinagar.
He has prayed for the wellbeing of people and urged them tofollow the health and sanitation advisories of the government.
Pertinently, the party on Thursday suspended all partygatherings/meets in a bid to help stop the transmission of COVID-19 virus inJ&K following surfacing of a positive case in Srinagar.
In a statement issued from party headquarters, partyspokesperson Imran Nabi Dar has asked people to follow the health advisories ofadministration in this regard. He has requested its functionaries, workers notto hold any outreach activity for the time being.
He maintained that party’s central office Nawa e Subah wouldbe only open for urgent work.
He also impressed upon the people to refrain from rumormongering, remission of unverified information on social media.
Masoodi raises issue in Lok Sabha
Meanwhile MP Hasnain Masoodi while speaking on COVID-19 inLok Sabha said it is the underprivileged section of the society, which willbear the impact of pandemic chiefly.
“In J&K, we have 50,000 daily wagers and contractualworkers on roads demanding release of their pending wages. How can they fightthe outbreak without having a penny in their pockets? There is a dire need torelease their dues and do away with SRO 202.
“These are not just 50,000 daily wagers and contractualworkers; it is the families associated with them as well who are at thereceiving end. How can they provide for family’s nutrition demand, sanitary andmedicine in these circumstances?
“I urge the government to come to the rescue of the theseaffected workers who though working at par with other government employees aresadly being denied their due wages,” he said.
He also urged the government to shift all J&K detaineeslanguishing in outside jails to J&K. The measure will bring respite totheir kith and kin, who don’t have the resources to visit them outside J&K.”TheCOVID-19 has made long travels risky. Therefore on humanitarian grounds thedetainees should be shifted to J&K without any delay,” he said.