J&K admn arranges special trains to bring back stranded residents

The administration will bear the cost of the tickets, even as 30,000 people have so far returned to the UT with proper regulation, officials said.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration is arranging special trains for its residents stranded across the country due to the lockdown. The administration will bear the cost of the tickets, even as 30,000 people have so far returned to the UT with proper regulation, officials said on Friday.

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“The J&K administration has collected details of stranded persons, who wish to return to the UT by providing web links for registration. Arrangements are being made for their arrival in an orderly manner while adhering to the norms of social distancing and undertaking testing so as to ensure that timely action is taken to prevent any spread of Covid-19,” said an official spokesperson.

“Approximately 30,000 persons have entered the UT, with proper regulation, from Lakhanpur. During this period, migrant workers, students and stranded persons from the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have already returned to J&K. The stranded persons in the states/UTs of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Delhi have been permitted to return, in a regulated manner, with effect from May 7 and this process will continue for a week,” the spokesperson added.

Simultaneously, train services were being arranged for stranded persons of J&K, particularly from far off places, he said adding that these trains will start arriving shortly.

“These trains will start arriving shortly and necessary coordination with the sending states as also with Railway authorities is going on. Nobody should move in a hurry without passes issued with the consent of the J&K administration, else, will be quarantined for 21 days in Kathua,” he added.

He said the Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to bear the cost of the tickets. The returnees will not need to make any payments for their return journey by train.

“The UT of J&K has taken umpteen measures for controlling the spread of Covid-19, with frontline workers working untiringly. In this backdrop, it is necessary that the return is managed such that these efforts do not get adversely affected”, he said adding that the administration reassures all the stranded persons of J&K that it is taking every possible step for their early return to their homes.

Meanwhile, the first batch of 166 migrants stuck in J&K due to the coronavirus enforced lockdown was on Friday sent to their home states in six buses, officials said.

The migrants belonged from Patna, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Jammu north sub-divisional magistrate Pawan Kotwal said.

Two buses ferrying 88 migrants were sent to Patna, while one bus each with 39 people left for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.