Around 5,000 workers from Jammu and Kashmir who were stranded in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab due to the coronavirus lockdown have been brought back to the Union territory in the last four days, an official said on Tuesday.
The administration now plans to bring another 10,000 migrants in the next seven days.
“The administration is working in tandem with the Punjab and Himachal Pradesh governments. On Monday, we evacuated 369 students from Kota in Rajasthan, and on the same day, we also brought back 1,200 labourers from the two states. Prior to it, 1,800 migrants had arrived in the UT,” said a top official requesting anonymity.
The senior official said that over 15 buses ferrying the labourers had left Kathua for Kashmir. Amid the ongoing lockdown, these migrant workers were stranded in other states and were struggling to return home.
“Since Ramzan has started, the J&K administration decided to bring the stranded workers back to their hometown in coordinance with the governments of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. After they arrived here, they were kept in various quarantine centres,” he said.
These workers are being screened at Lakhanpur in Kathua and then sent to their native district where they are being kept under administrative quarantine facilities, the official added.
{{/usCountry}}These workers are being screened at Lakhanpur in Kathua and then sent to their native district where they are being kept under administrative quarantine facilities, the official added.
{{/usCountry}}“Another 1,200 facilitated. Numbers over 3,000 now...Everybody, please be patient. we are reaching out,” Rohit Kansal, principal secretary and government spokesperson had earlier said in a tweet.