Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) President Altaf Bukhari on Monday flayed the J&K administration for prevailing chaos and confusion among the residents stranded in various parts of the country and delay in their evacuation.
In a statement, Bukhari said the government’s promptresponse after Union home ministry’s circular allowing intra and inter-statemovement of migrant labourers a week ago was appreciable.
But, he said, unfortunately the helpline numbers establishedby the J&K administration remain constantly engaged, understandably,because of the number of stranded people.
“Same is the case withthose stranded students and traders who have registered themselves ongovernment web portal but are still waiting for any response,” Bukhari said.
He said approximately 90percent of the labourers, students, traders and other stuck up residents ofJ&K have got themselves registered on the official web portals set up bythe government. “More than five days have elapsed since their registrationthese stranded people are still waiting for a response from the government sideand are bewildered about their evacuation,” he said.
The JKAP President saidhis party office bearers including him were constantly receiving distress callsfrom people stuck up in different parts of the country, seeking clarificationon the schedule for their return.
“They do not knowanything about the date of their actual evacuation. Though some strandedstudents, pilgrims and labourers were evacuated from Chandigarh, Kota,Jaisalmer and Mumbai and were brought back to J&K which is appreciable buta huge number of the stranded residents who have not received any response fromthe government so far have no option but to resort to unapproved and unplannedjourney’s towards their homes,” he said.
Bukhari said a large number of people were stranded inAndhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry, Kerela, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orrisa,Kolkata, Mumbai, Uttrakhand, Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, HimachalPradesh, Goa and Madhaya Pradesh including a vast majority stuck up in Delhi.
He said people were also stranded in different areas ofJammu and vice versa in Kashmir and Leh who were desperately waiting to go totheir respective places.
“These stranded peopleare in dark about the scheduled dates for their return and are feelingunwanted. To remove this feeling of irrelevance, the government must notify asfrom which place, when and how these stuck up people of J&K are to bebrought back to their homes. They should also be informed about their mode oftransportation and other necessary details via response mails so that the elementof ambiguity about their return is allayed,” he said.
He said to regulate their movement, more nodal officers beappointed by the administration at various spots especially at Pathankote andLakhanpur entry points to segregate the residents of J&K.
Similarly, he said, services of the government and J&KBank employees posted outside J&K in different parts of the country couldbe utilized to facilitate registration and return of the stranded residents inthe prevailing pandemic situation.