The pathetic condition in which a transgender person was found lying on a roadside near posh Gupkar area here recently has highlighted failure of the state government to take care of “abandoned” citizens in Jammu and Kashmir.
For long the state government has been promising rehabilitation homes for people in need, often found wandering in hostile weather conditions on the streets of Srinagar and elsewhere.
Many a time these unfortunate people have landed in police stations and even hospitals in desperate need for help and care.
This human issue even rocked the state Assembly on several occasions, but the government has done nothing on the ground.
“This case (of the abandoned transgender) is ample proof how the government has not only failed to deliver for one of the most vulnerable communities in the society, but even others who are abandoned and that too during later years of their life,” said Aijaz Ahmad Bund, a social activist who has been fighting for rights of transgender persons.
This elderly transgender, who was shifted to SMHS hospital after lying on roadside for almost 20 days in the area where who-is-who of state’s political class live, has not been mute.
But this is not the lone-person case of the government neglect.
More than 60 transgender persons have been “abandoned” by their families, claims Aijaz who has done an extensive study on the vulnerable community.
Most of these people are either living on rent or have left their places and come down to city so that nobody could recognise them. All of them are however living a life in penury.
The worse is that 15 to 20 such persons are in the elderly age group having no social security and no shelter, said Aijaz.
“A few months ago, a young transgender, abandoned by the family, died of cardiac arrest. Nobody came forward for help, except her sister,” lamented Bund.
“Her father and brother knew about it, but didn’t own her, even after her death.”
A couple of days ago, a mentally unstable woman, abandoned by her family, delivered a baby in open without any medical help.
In April 2017, also a woman abandoned by her family was lying outside SMHS hospital for three months, oblivious of her surroundings and not knowing who brought her there.
Later she was admitted into the hospital, but couldn’t survive.
The government, however, claims that there are already homes for “women in distress” and those facing domestic abuse.
But there are no such facilities for abandoned people and they are taken into these homes only after social media alarms.
That the government is still unaware about this latest case, despite outrage on social media over past few days, speaks volumes about its misplaced priorities, said another social activist.
“We are working on a plan to set up composite rehabilitation homes in Srinagar and Jammu for abandoned people,” said Farooq Lone, secretary social welfare department.
In Kashmir, the government had identified land at Samboora in Pampore but the plan was shelved later for unknown reasons.
Now, the land has been identified in Anantnag, Lone said.
“But till this composite home comes up who will take care of these people living a life in distress and in need of social security?” asked the activist.