Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 1: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Member Parliament from Anantnag, Hasnain Masoodi has asked the Union Government and the Ministry of Railways to operate a special non-stop trains to Jammu -Udhampur for the students, labourers and other stranded people from Jammu and Kashmir.
He has expressed dissatisfaction with the mechanism put in place by the J&K Administration for the people outside J&K as the SOP is not expected to bring much needed respite to the stranded people. Masoodi has stated that the labourers from Jammu and Kashmir are stranded at far off places like Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, including the large number in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana and appointing one nodal officer for the entire country except Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, is not going to help in early evacuation and return of the people stranded in these states. Even in the case of the people stranded in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, a single nodal officer assisted by one more officer is not to make the requisite information accessible to the stranded.
The statement adds that students from J&K are stranded in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Indore, Aligarh, Agra, Chandigarh and other satellite towns around Delhi and a single nodal officer cannot handle the evacuation requests expected to be received from the stranded students.
Masoodi has demanded a more elaborate mechanism accessible without any difficulty to the stranded. The present mechanism according to him, as per the inputs received, is not at all satisfactory. The operation of a special train, it is emphasized will relieve Lakhanpur and Kathua of un-manageable pressure and it would be possible to handle a good number of stranded people at Jammu and Udhampur Railway Stations. This apart, the statement adds operation of a special train would also benefit the stranded students and labourers, tradesmen stationed far away from Delhi to return and join their families at the earliest.
“It would also be more convenient to enforce social distancing in travel by train as against travel by any other mode of surface transport. If a similar request from the Governments of Bihar, Maharashtra and some other states is being favourably considered, there is no reason to deny a special non-stop train to Jammu and Kashmir so that the back home journey of the stranded is facilitated in a hassle free manner,” Masoodi added.
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