Over 600 traders stranded in Kolkata seek evacuation

More than 600 Kashmiri shawl traders stranded in Kolkata for past the past two months have accused the government of delaying their evacuation, despite repeated pleas.

“We completed the registration process more than a week ago but so far there has been no response from authorities,” said Feroz Gojree, one of the stranded Kashmiris.

   

He said they were running short of money and other resources as their business came to halt amid the COVID19 lockdown.

He said the stranded people were facing difficulties in meeting both ends.

The J&K government has deputed secretary higher education department, Talat Parvez to coordinate evacuation of stranded Kashmiris in Kolkata.

However, these stranded people said Parvez was not responding to their repeated calls.

“We tried to contact him several times but he never responds to our calls. We fail to understand why he has been appointed as nodal officer,” said another stranded Kashmiri.

Another group of students stranded in Jaipur urged the J&K administration to evacuate them.

“We haven’t received any help for the last one month. Even those officials appointed as nodal officers don’t bother to respond to our calls,” said Muazzam, a student.

More than 70 Kashmiris stranded in Qatar urged government of India and J&K administration to get them evacuated to Valley ahead of Eid.

“The Government of India has taken a great step to evacuate a large numbers of citizens from various countries. But we haven’t heard anything from the government on our evacuation so far,” said Qazi Saleem, a resident of Ganderbal stuck in Qatar.

Those stranded in Qatar have already registered with India Embassy’s in Doha for their evacuation.

“We humbly appeal to government of India and J&K administration to take immediate measures for our evacuation,” he said.

Meanwhile, students from Kulgam district who were stopped at Samba after their return on May 14, complained that the authorities were not sending reports of their samples taken for COVID19 testing.

“All returnees from other districts have got their reports and are put under home quarantine, but we are facing difficulties in quarantine centres as we are mixed with other people,” said Sakib Bhat, a student.

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