Former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla on Saturday said that Role of Work force of J&K cannot be belittled and that Government should take every possible step to help them sail through the prevailing crisis. He said that the society should be appreciative of the role played by the front line workers and ground staffers combating the COVID-19 crisis. He said that just acknowledging their toil won’t suffice and much more has to be done to ensure that all the workers draw satisfaction from their jobs. Meantime an effective policy framework should be made to secure the interests of menial, skilled and unskilled labour force driving the economy of the country, he added. They work day in, day out, they have been playing a crucial role in ensuring the crucial facilities to people although since the onset of COVID-19 crisis.
However, the staff that has been entrusted with the job has been gripped by fear of contacting the diseases in absence of adequate protective gear. “They are ready to perform their duties and are, infact, doing their job but want Government to provide them adequate protective gear. They are the frontline workers and if, God forbid, anything happens to them it will affect the entire process,” Bhalla said. He added that the fear of taking the infection home is bothering them the most.The administration should immediately provide them the necessary equipment to save them and their families from the deadly disease,” Bhalla said. He sought aggressive testing of all those stranded people being brought back and instead of quarantine centres, they should be allowed to go home. All stranded people should be provided free transportation especially the labour class and other such poor people. He said it could only be the best tributes to those who sacrificed for the rights of the labour class.
Bhalla urged upon the Central and Jammu & Kashmir Governments to frame and implement a concrete employment policy in Jammu and Kashmir as unemployment has been a serious concern, especially, in post COVID-19 crisis. “There is already a swift increase in the strength of unemployed youth due to prolonged uncertainty and political turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir. He said, due to lockdown in view of COVID-19 pandemic, many people have lost their jobs in Jammu and Kashmir, adding that in the present scenario, disturbances, uncertainty and low expansion of industries in J&K, the problem of unemployment have become more serious. He said that Tourism Industries which have much potential for the employment were also showing downward trend in Jammu and Kashmir especially, in the last nine months, so there was urgent need to revive tourism sector post COVID-19 crisis. “It is the duty of Government to provide employment/works to unemployed qualified youth, jobless labourers, small traders and other daily rated workers,” Bhalla maintained.
Financial epidemic is knocking at the door. More people will die due to financial constraints than the coronavirus infection unless state governments and the Centre take some steps quickly to keep them afloat for the next few months, he said.”Even after the lockdown is lifted, they would not have any money left to restart the business. They are nothing more than daily wage earners. If the situation prevails, they will face starvation. Now, they are totally dependent on the state governments ration and aids given by social organizations. Bhalla claimed that the J&K government is yet to provide its hundreds of hawkers’ community with any direct financial support. Identifying hawkers would not pose a challenge if the government decides to offer financial support to them, he said.
Meantime former Minister on Saturday continued the distribution of ration and other essential items among needy people. Today he distributed food items at Ambedkar Nagar, Digiana, Bahu Fort, Baga-e-Bahu, Dharap Panchayat, Bablayana Ward-2. Prominent among those who accompanied Bhalla included DCC General Secretary Aman Bawa, DCC General Secretary Jatin Vashisht, Sarpanch Shamshar Singh, Block President Amrit Bali, Block President Surinder singh Dutt, Sarpanch Kashmir Singh, Talik Sharma Bral, Suman Choudhary, Kewal Krishan, Bhabbi Sharma, Chman Kumar, Diwan Chand, Capt. Ghar singh, charanjeet Singh, Kamaljeet Kour, Jasvir Singh Jassi, Rohit Choudhary beside others.
Bhalla expressing concern over plight of poor both urban and rural saluted all those who have come forward to provide a safety net to the poor who have been hit by the COVID-19 lockdown including several city-based non-governmental organisation (NGOs) and social groups to distribute relief material, including dry ration and sanitary napkins, among people at the risk of being left out of the beneficiaries’ list. Experts say that this will only buy time by impeding the spread Covid-19, which could be accelerated again once the curbs are lifted. The government needs to use this time well by augmenting its health care infrastructure on a war footing to push back the virus. If the government relies only on the lockdown and doesn’t take immediate action to build hospitals and have more beds for its citizens, a rapid spread of Sars-Cov-2 when restrictions are lifted may knockout the health care system with surging caseloads and many needing intensive care. India’s overstretched health system is already grappling with shortages of doctors, health workers and hospital beds, especially in rural areas and densely populated states. There is currently no vaccine to prevent Covid-19. The best prevention method is to avoid being exposed to the virus. It spreads mainly from person-to-person; between people who are in close contact with one another. Social distancing is the only effective way to control the pandemic. Indians needs to follow the lockdown guidelines as much as possible.
Bhalla strongly maintained that In wake of the corona virus pandemic, the daily wagers are hit the most. The COVID-19 scare has affected the livelihoods of daily wage earners due to slowing down of the economy. Govt should come to their rescue, plan to give unemployment benefits to contract and temporary workers who have lost their jobs temporarily due to the challenges posed by the virus.Even though millions has been donated into these campaigns, those who need help the most have yet to receive a piece of the pie. Small hospitals in many districts are still suffering from a shortage of respirators and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as goggles, face masks and hazmat suits. The same goes for the government’s relief packages for those affected by the outbreak. Low-income workers living in slums and other cities have not found any helping hands. They lost most of their income after the government ordered a shutdown of department stores, entertainment venues and other places to contain the spread of the virus. These stark realities on the ground contrast sharply with a number of picture-perfect social media campaigns that I have noticed recently. Of course, donations are not the only solution, but they can provide partial relief for those who really need help, added Bhalla. Fundraising is only worthwhile if it is done effectively and ensures the money raised goes to those who need it the most.
The treatment of the poor in this crisis seems to bear all the hallmarks of what the state did to them during demonetisation: They are asked to sacrifice disproportionately for the common good, they are treated with impunity, and the state acknowledges their needs only very grudgingly. This economic and humanitarian myopia is also a risk for the social resilience we will need to combat this challenge. Managing the economic fallout will, admittedly, have to evolve as the crisis unfolds. But the initial hesitations, missteps and immobilising questions of justice are revealing about our priorities and do not inspire confidence. But equally worrying is our opacity on the health infrastructure side. Opacity is often a consequence of scarcity. And nowhere is this more manifest than in our discussion of testing. Everyone understands that India has scarce testing capacity, though it seems it is also under-utilising what it has. The government is procuring more testing kits. But what is worrying is that there seems to be no publicly articulated statement of what exactly our testing strategy is, given the scarce resources.
Most families buy goods on a weekly basis at weekly village markets. That’s just how much liquidity they have. Which is why, shutting down the economy means shutting down all the flow of money in, anyway, precarious households, he said. Bhalla has sought 4G internet services in J&K to allow educational institutes offer e-learning to students amid prolonged lockdown. He observed that restoration of 4G mobile internet services in J&K would enable people especially the students to remain engaged inside their homes, thereby effectively containing the global COVID-19 pandemic. He said that since all the educational institutes are closed in J&K the students have been left with no option but to remain idle in their homes which has a telling impact on their future. He said that as COVID-19 spreads at an alarming rate, the public health officials have called for minimal public gatherings “which is pushing many activities online.