Pointing towards the pathetic plight of the migrant workers who have returned from other States and placed under quarantine, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh, Chairman-JKNPP & former Minister today accused the authorities concerned for treating them most shabbily and failing to meet even their basic needs including proper food, water and requisite medical aid. The poor labourers have been protesting inside quarantine centres at various places in District Kathua, Samba and Udhampur against the inhuman treatment doled out to them by certain reckless officials with none to take cognizance of their miserable plight, regretted Singh. He said that the food provided in most of the quarantine centres is not only unhygienic but grossly inadequate to satiate the hunger of the poor labourers. The half fed quarantined labourers are further being deprived of sufficient water and are being made to live in unhygienic conditions with hardly any sanitation facilities in most of the centres.
Strongly condemning the recent episode of brutal assault on a poor labourer named Mashu Ram inside a quarantine centre at Thandi Khui, Vijaypur by a policeman, Mr. Singh regretted that despite multiple injuries received by the said worker no action was taken against the offending cop. The poor labourer though was rushed to hospital but brought back the same day only to protect the policeman who had inflicted serious injuries on the person of the worker. And despite protests by the inmates of the quarantine centre, no FIR and no action whatsoever has been lodged against the offender. He further expressed concern over pick and chose in the matter of conducting medical tests of quarantined people with several complaints of favourtism in respect thereof. Several samples were reported to have been misplaced. And some selected people allowed to go to their homes without tests and later found Corona positive with one each case found in Fatehpur and Barmota villages.
Mr. Harsh Dev Singh further castigated the local administration for failing to address the concerns of protesting labourers hurled up in Indoor Stadium Ramnagar with no sanitation, no fans with further complaints of poor quality and insufficient food. He regretted that despite the protests of the aggrieved labourers, the administration had failed to reach out to them to even enquire about the problems faced by them in the said centre.
Expressing serious concern over the apathetic approach of the authorities concerned towards the evacuation of several hundreds of Jammu based labourers stranded in District Anantnag, Srinagar, Kupwara and Pulwama, Mr. Singh said that they were facing worst nightmares in the troubled areas of Valley. He said that majority of these labourers belonged to Ramnagar and were repeatedly requesting for their early eviction with none to pay head towards their deplorable condition.