140 stranded Kashmiri labourers leave HP for J&K in six buses

About 140 stranded Kashmiri labourers left Shimla for Jammu and Kashmir on Friday evening. They left in six buses on Friday at 10.30 pm after Himachal Pradesh government gave them the permission amid the coronavirus curfew, a Kashmiri labourer Fayaz said before leaving Shimla.

Thanking Himachal Pradesh government and local people for helping them during the curfew, Fayaz said a total of 168 Kashmiri labourers have been provided permission to go to their native places in Jammu and Kashmir. However , only 40 of them are going to their native places in J&K as the rest had to get some money from some people, he added.

Fayaz expressed his gratitude to HP government for permitting them to go to their native places and taking up their matter with J&K administration for the same. They will go up to Kathua's Lakhanpur on Punjab-J&K border in the six buses. From Lakhanpur, the J&K administration will make arrangements to facilitate them to reach their native places, he added.

Fayaz said the district administration and local people provided them every possible help including ration but they wanted to go back to their homes as they had not earned even a single paisa for over a month due to corona-triggered curfew and lockdown. Most of these Kashmiri labourers work here as porters for local people by carrying their heavy luggage and household items from one place to another. They were staying in Jama Masjid near Middle Bazar.