Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 29: Former minister and vice president of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC), Ghulam Mohammed Saroori today appealed Lt Governor Girish Chandra Murmu to provide compensation to the farmers, industrial workers, labourers, shopkeepers and traders who have suffered badly in the ongoing lockdown across the Jammu and Kashmir.
In a press statement, Saroori said that during the ongoing lockdown in the Jammu and Kashmir people have been rendered jobless. “A fixed amount of Rs 10,000 to Rs 7500 should be given as compensation to the labourers, industrial workers, workers of unorganized sector, small scale industries for six months so that they can be supported during hard days,” Saroori demanded.
In a video message, Saroori also expressed sympathy with the labourers who died while heading for their respective homes across the country. As a part of ‘speak-up India’, the senior Congress leader hailed the leadership of AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ghulam Nabi Azad who have highlighted the plight of the workers and poor down trodden section of society.
Saroori said that large numbers of labourers have been working in different states and Union Territories of the country and they have been stranded since the announcement of Covid lockdown. “People in lakhs suffered whereas, quarantine centres where large numbers of people have been assembled lack proper facilities,” he alleged citing several complaints made to him by the people. He said that “The J&K’s labourers should stranded outside the UT and they should be shifted back to their respective districts without charging them the fare.”
Highlighting financial condition of stranded people, Saroori said that a local contractor Javed Ahmed from resident of Bhalessa (Doda) remained stranded at Gawhati alongwith 560 labourers from various districts. This contractor had to hire buses out of his pocket without help from the Government, he alleged, adding claimed that the contractor spent lakhs. Though majority of the stranded labourers have been shifted back to their home towns, he said, around 30 labourers are still stranded there. He claimed that around 1500 to 2000 labourers from Chenab belt are still stranded in different states of the country and should be brought back.
He further demanded that electricity bills and interest of KCC loans of the people should not be charged.
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