Students, patients, others kept waiting for 7 hours
Avtar Bhat
KATHUA, Mar 22: The inhabitants of J&K who either were studying in other States of the country or had gone there in connection with business or treatment of their family members on return to their native places in the UT after the Governments of respective States ordered lockdown due to spread of Coronavirus had to undergo a lot humiliation and harassment at the hands of police at gateway of J&K, Lakhanpur as they were kept waiting there for about seven hours and not allowed to leave ahead from there early this morning.
Narrating their horrible tale, about two dozen commuters who mostly were students and families, said that they were not allowed to enter Jammu and Kashmir by the police deployed at Lakhanpur on the pretext of imposition of Section 144 by the Government in the UT.
“Our all pleas that we belong to J&K and are on way to our native places to meet our other family members fell on deaf years as no one in the Police Department and civil administration was ready to listen to our pleas”, said Tejinder Singh who had come from Amritsar to see his ailing father at Nanak Nagar Jammu.
Tejinder said that he was doing a private job at holy city of Amritsar but after coming to know about the ailment of his old aged father, he left Amritsar early in the morning and reached Lakhanpur at 7 am to see his father as his wife and small kids need his help in looking after him. He said “though I narrated my tale of woes to cops on duty they did not listen to me.”
Tejinder said he even contacted some officers in Jammu but they only gave him assurances but did not do any thing tangible to allow him to cross Lakhanpur for Jammu. The cops on duty said that they will only allow them to cross Lakhanpur after they get orders from the higher ups, he added.
Same was tale of Rajinder Gupta of Jammu who had gone to Kota, Rajasthan to bring his son who was studying there after the Rajasthan Government declared lockdown in the State. Gupta said he left Rajasthan during the night and reached Lakhanpur at 7 am. He said Punjab Police and police in other States did not detain them anywhere. “At various nakas enroute the police of respective States stopped us and when we told them that we belong to J&K and are on way to our home they allowed us to leave without wasting our time. But after reaching at Lakhanpur we were stopped and not allowed to cross up to 2 pm”, he added.
The commuters said that they were coming in their personal vehicles which were screened and sanitized by the police at Lakhanpur and later detained up to 2 pm. Among the stranded passengers included students from Kashmir valley and people from Doda, Kathua, Udhampur and other areas of Jammu region. These commuters also showed their resentment against the non cooperation shown by J&K Police and administration.
Sanjeev Kumar of Jammu who came from Delhi said that he was not stopped any where after travelling over 300 kms up to Lakhanpur but was not allowed to proceed further from Lakhanpur.
The tale of Amarjit Singh of Kathua who was returning from Pathankot along with his wife and children was not different. He had gone there for medical examination of his wife and while returning he was not allowed to enter Kathua which is at stone’s throw from Lakhanpur and was stopped there up to 2 pm along with other people. He said it was only after 2 pm that the commuters were allowed to cross Lakhanpur.
These commuters said that they were on way to their home towns in J&K after the authorities in various States ordered lock down. They said that despite giving self declaration that they are not infected by the virus, the authorities did not agree to the same and kept them waiting for hours.
However some people were served lunch by the police at Lakhanpur.
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