National Conference MP from Anantnag, Hasnain Masoodi on Friday asked the Group of Ministers supervising measures to combat corona crisis and Union ministry of railways to operate a special non-stop trains to Jammu- dhampur for the students, labourers and other people from J&K stranded outside.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the mechanism put in placeby the J&K administration for people outside J&K, saying the SOP wasnot expected to bring much needed respite to the stranded people.
Masoodi said the labourers from J&K were stranded at faroff places like Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.
“Appointing one nodal officer for the entire country exceptPunjab and Himachal Pradesh is not going to help in early evacuation and returnof the people stranded in these states. Even in the case of the people strandedin Punjab and Himachal Pradesh a single nodal officer assisted by one moreofficer is not to make the requisite information accessible to the stranded,”Masoodi said.
He said students from J&K were stranded in Hyderabad,Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Indore, Aligarh, Agra, Chandigarh and other satellitetowns around Delhi and a single nodal officer cannot handle the evacuationrequests expected to be received from the stranded students.
Masoodi demanded a more elaborate mechanism accessiblewithout any difficulty to the stranded people.
“The present mechanism is not at all satisfactory. Theoperation of a special train will relieve Lakhanpur and Kathua of un-manageablepressure and it would be possible to handle a good number of stranded people atJammu and Udhampur railway stations,” he said.
“It would also be more convenient to enforce socialdistancing in travel by train as against travel by any other mode of surfacetransport. It is stated that if a similar request from the governments ofBihar, Maharashtra and some other states is being favourably considered, thereis no reason to deny a special non-stop train to Jammu and Kashmir so that theback home journey of the stranded people is facilitated in a hassle freemanner,” said Masoodi.