Srinagar, Apr 12 (KNO): More than 700 Kashmiris, who are stranded in different parts of Delhi have urged the authorities to evacuate them as they have been going through “difficult times” and are helpless due to the lockdown in view of Covid-19.
According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), more than 700 Kashmiris got stranded in Delhi after the lockdown was announced on March 25 in the entire country in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Several Kashmiris who are stranded in Delhi told KNO over phone they were helpless and want to go home as they were facing lot of difficulties due to the lockdown.
They alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir administration has failed to provide them any sort of relief and that the claims made by the administration were a hoax.
“Nobody has come from the administration to provide any sort of relief. The helpline numbers that have provided here in Delhi are either out of service or nobody responds to the calls, even if you call them 100 times. We are helpless and want to go home,” said Faizan Majeed, a resident of Nowshehra, Srinagar.
Faizan is stranded along with his three family members in Panipat, in the outskirts of Delhi ever since the lockdown was announced in the country.
Even though they had booked tickets for March 25 but were unable to go home as their tickets were cancelled by the airlines company due to the lockdown. “Since March 25 we are stuck here and the irony is that we have not received any help from the administration even though they (administration) were making tall claims. The helpline numbers they have provided are just a hoax,” he said.
Another Kashmiri, Umar Mukhtar, who is stranded in Lajpat Nagar area of Delhi along with 5 others, said they were ready to go under quarantine wherever the JK admin wants them but they should first evacuate from Delhi. “Even if we are asked to go under quarantine in Kashmir, we are ready for that but somehow we want to go home. We are facing a lot of difficulties here. Even the administration has not provided any help to us,” he said.
Showkat Ahmad, a resident of Safa Kadal, Srinagar, who is stranded in Batla house area of South Delhi, told KNO over phone that they are being made to run from pillar to post by JK administration in Delhi as they have failed to provide any kind of relief to stranded Kashmiris in Delhi.
“The helpline numbers are just on papers. Even the resident commissioner doesn’t respond to calls from stranded Kashmiris. We are helpless we just want to go home. I had booked earlier booked tickets on April 01st but they got cancelled due to the announcement of countrywide lockdown on March 25 and since then we are stuck here,” he said.
Muzaffar Jan, a resident of Lal Bazar, Srinagar, who was in Delhi along with his family for some business purpose told KNO that they got stuck in Zakir Nagar area of South Delhi after the lockdown was announced.
He said that they were planning to go home by the end pf March but they got stuck after the lockdown was announced and they are now facing a lot of difficulties.
He said that he personally called resident commissioner and assistant resident commissioner but didn’t respond to his calls. “After they didn’t respond I called one of the helpline numbers but they responded after I made a dozen calls. Then I sent a text to one of the helpline numbers but I was asked to wait for a few more days,” he said.
Muzaffar said that JK administration should arrange a chartered flight to evacuate stranded Kashmiris from Delhi and if that is not possible they should arrange a few busses so they could go home.
“We are ready to pay travel charges if we are asked to and we are ready to go under quarantine but somehow we want to go home as the month of Ramadhan is also approaching. These are desperate times for us here in Delhi. We are helpless.
There are more than 600 Kashmiris stranded in south Delhi alone. Authorities must do something for us,” he said—(KNO)