On April 3, residents of Arambagh-Batpora village in Shopian felt “restless” after seeing the plight of hungry non-local labourers, who were gathered by administration from across the district in the premises of local Government Higher Secondary School.
“They were dizzy. Hungerwas visible on their faces,” said Zahoor Ahmad Dar, a resident Arambagh.
On the day, the districtadministration had received a directive to put all non-local labourers atspecified six locations together, in view of “security threat” followingannouncement of Domicile Law in J&K. The administration was in need of accommodationand food for the non-locals.
Though,officials say accommodation was not a problem and the non-local labourers wereadjusted in a “spacious” building in the district. However, managing theirmeals on the first day on “short notice” was an arduous task, the officialaccepted.
DeputyCommissioner (DC) Shopian, Choudhary Mohammad Yasin said, “There was a securitythreat due to Domicile Law announcement. We had to gather all the non-locallabourers, who were otherwise spread in the entire district. Obviously, therewere lots of people coming in on a very short notice.”
“Wewere short of hands to organise food and so we requested volunteers,” the DCconfirmed.
It was when the residentsheld on the centuries old ethos of Kashmir and organized the food for thenon-locals gathered in their area.
Anotherresident Shahid Ahmad said the elderly at Arambagh choose a volunteer group,who was instructed to collect donations, with a strict direction to maintaindistance during the collection.
“Therewere non-locals brought by police from adjoining places including Zainapora,Kacchidara,Chitragam, Pinjoora, Imamsahab, Dangihama and other places. Theywere kept at the school building,” said Dar.
Headded, “It was obvious from their body language that they were hungry. Somewere simply lying on the ground. Some asked us to provide them with a loaf ofbread. Sensing, it would take time for administration to arrange food for them.We decided to serve them meals.”
However, due to COVID-19pandemic crisis, the managing the act smoothly was a tough job. “We knew it wasnot a routine crisis. We had to maintain social distance in order to saveourselves and others as well from getting ill,” says Zahoor, a local.
The food, Zahoor said, wascooked away from the building, and brought inside the school premises in a carfor non-locals.
“Atschool we distributed food and packaged water bottles among the non-locals. Inthe day, we provided food to 180 people and in the evening, we served food to300 non-locals,” he said.
Next day, the local ZahoorAhmad Dar said administration itself took charge and started providing food tothe non locals. The officials said it will continue providing food to thenon-locals, until the time travel restrictions are lifted and they get back to theirhomes.
“We are giving them rationand cooked food as well. It is a kind of challenge to manage a big groupconsidering the fact that the social distance also needs to be maintained. So,we limited the gathering to 150 people that too in spacious buildings withadequate space all around,” said DC Shopian.
“How could we have let ourguests sleep empty stomach that day, when we had eaten stomach full? It doesn’treflect our ethos,” the local Zahoor Ahmad Dar said.