A 14-member group from West Bengal, on a trip to Jammu andKashmir, has been stuck at a hotel here for over a month now due to thelockdown and are surviving on contributions from locals, police and NGOs afterrunning out of money.
The group, comprising members of an extended family,including six women and four children, reached Jammu on its maiden trip to theUnion territory on March 15 and were scheduled to return by train on March 30.
But hopes of a memorable holiday quickly turned into anightmare when the central government put the country under lockdown on March25 to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Resources exhausted, the group now desperately wants to beevacuated at the earliest.
“The announcement by the Centre to allow movement ofstranded persons came as a big relief for us. We have been stranded here for along time now and need to be evacuated to our homes without any furtherdelay,” Arijit Das (48), a resident of Nabapally Barasat in North 24Parganas, told PTI here.
Das, a private tutor, said two days have passed since thegovernment made the announcement but “we do not know how to get shiftedfrom here to our home state”.
He appreciated the residents of Jammu for their hospitalityand philanthropic approach towards them. “They ensured that we stayalive!”
“We have exhausted all our money and are living on thecontributions from various persons over the past one month,” Das said.
The family appealed to West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee to come to its rescue.
“The Jammu and Kashmir government has come out withdetailed information about the evacuation of its citizens stranded in otherparts of the country. We are also looking towards ‘Didi’ (WB CM) so that we canreach our homes,” Tapan Das, another member of the group, said.
He said they had planned the trip to cover various areas ofJammu and Kashmir with hopes of a memorable experience.
“The trip kicked off on a positive note with a visit tothe Vaishno Devi Shrine, where we offered our prayers soon after our arrival inJammu on March 15. After visiting various temples and other places of interesthere, we started for Srinagar on March 17 and had a bad experience when we wereleft stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for two days due to alandslide,” Tapan Das recalled.
He said they reached Srinagar to experience curfew-likerestrictions imposed by the local administration to prevent the spread of thecoronavirus.
“The pandemic not only marred our trip but also left ushigh and dry with no immediate end to our miseries in sight. We had planned tovisit the famous tourist resorts of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg in theValley but were not allowed by police,” Arijit Das said.
Arijit, who is accompanied by his parents, sisters andbrothers-in-law, said they enjoyed sightseeing at the Dal Lake and visited theMughal Gardens in Srinagar before returning to Jammu on the night of March 22.
“We booked a hotel next to the historic RaghunathMandir in Hari Market and all our money got exhausted by April 1 after gettingcaught in the lockdown. The hotel owner is a very nice person who handed overhis kitchen to us to prepare our meals.
“After coming to know about us, the local residentscame forward with rice, biscuits and tea and the NGOs, social groups, policeand others helped fulfil our daily needs. We are thankful to the people fortheir gesture,” he said.