Stranded Kashmiris, migrant labourers demand their evacuation to their homes
Jammu: Dozens of stranded Kashmiris and some migrant labourers on Saturday assembled outside the Divisional Commissioner office here and demanded early evacuation to their home, officials said.
The protesters alleged that the administration was not paying heed to their pleas and are making them to shuttle between one office to another for redressal of their grievances.
However, all of them dispersed off peacefully later, the officials said.
“We have been stranded here for the past 42 days and there is no word from the government about our evacuation,” Farooq Ahmad Shah, a resident of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, said.
He claimed that thousands of people from Kashmir, including labourers and patients, are stranded in Jammu and are living a miserable life without proper food and shelter.
“Police chase us when we visit the Civil Secretariat, while authorities in the Deputy Commissioner’s office demand us to visit the Divisional Commissioner’s office for movement passes,” he said, demanding deployment of SRTC vehicles for their early transportation to the Kashmir Valley.
A group of migrant labourers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab also asked transport facility for their return journey to their homes without further delay.
“We are desperate to return to our homes. In the absence of public transport, we have no option but to foot the distance,” a labourer from Bihar said.
