Srinagar : Amid COVID-19 lockdown, Kashmiris are lending helping hand to non-local laborers by offering them food and other essentials.
There are around 20,000 migrant laborers stranded in Kashmir. Most of these migrant workers are running out of money and food and are desperate to go back to their native places.
Amid this locals are providing them food and other essential to these laborers.
“We are running out of money but some local people are providing us food and other essentials. The locals provide us all possible help and are even collecting money to help non-local laborers,” a non-local laborer Satish Kumar from Bihar told news agency KINS.
He is stranded along with a group of non-local laborers in old city Srinagar.
Another non-local laborer from Uttar Pradesh said they reached Kashmir in the second week of March. “I worked for two days and earned Rs 1000 before the lockdown started. Kashmir’s working season starts in March so laborers had started coming here from various parts of the country. Government should have given laborers three days to reach to their homes before announcing lockdown,” he said, who is a mason by profession and is stranded in Srinagar.
“Last week we had no food to eat but we were provided food by locals. How long can we dependent on local or on some support of the Kashmir administration,” he asked.
Many local youth has provided food and other essential to score of non-local laborers in various parts of Srinagar including at Hawal.
“Our families are worried about our safety. I have seen 2010 and 2016 lockdown but this time it is scary to stay here. We want to leave for our home as soon as possible. We want to survive to see the faces of our family members,” a laborer from Uttar Pradesh, who is stranded in Anantnag told KINS.
He said some locals helped them and provided food. “But everyone is running for his safety. If anyone gets infected, he can disseminate it to others. We (labourers) are prone to get infected as we don’t sanitize ourselves. How can we avoid any possible transmission of the virus when we are not able to maintain any distance,” he asked, who is a barber by profession.
Almost 80 percent barbers in Kashmir are non-locals as societal pressure has forced many local barbers to give up this trade.
Locals along with NGOs have been arranging meals in various areas for migrant laborers. “When everything is halted and these non-local laborers have not earned a single penny, it is our responsibility to take care of them,” said Omar Ahmad. He along with a group of people has been arranging meals for non-local laborers in parts of south Kashmir.
“They had left Kashmir last year in August and starting coming back in March. Almost four lakh laborers would have come to Kashmir by April 15 had there been no lockdown,” an official of Labour Departments said.(KINS)
