Dr Farooq calls for joint efforts to combat COVID-19 threat in JK

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference party president and Member of Parliament from Srinagar Dr Farooq Abdullah on Friday urged the Ulemas and community leaders to lend support to the efforts of government to help contain the COVID-19 threat in J&K.
Advising the people to follow the government advisories, party president solicited joint efforts to stop Covid 19 from spreading. “Religious scholars have a pivotal role to play in this precarious situation that is underway; they are the transmitters of knowledge. They should come forward to support the government in dealing with the pandemic. Need of the hour calls for a multifarious strategy to fight the outbreak, having community leaders, local press, electronic Media, Radio on board will help impede the spread of outbreak.”
Expressing concern for the well being of daily wagers, hawkers, and others, Abdullah in a statement issued on Friday said, “The government is duty bound to come to their rescue. A large chunk of our population live by hand to mouth. The lockdown post 5th of August already has had a crushing impact on the small scale businessmen, traders, daily wagers and hawkers. Government should waive off impending dues for some time and help those whose livelihood has been affected due to the present worrying situation.”
He further said, “The government should give ration to BPL families on complimentary basis and for APL families it should be subsidized further. Various stalls should be erected at various points across J&K, where free soaps, disinfectants and sanitizers should be made available to people particularly the poor, the tribal people, and those living in farflung areas. Elderly people who are drawing pension through different social schemes should also be taken care of. The situation is unprecedented and requires a strong response from government.”
Meanwhile party Member of Parliament Hasnain Masoodi while speaking on the sprawl of COVID-19 in Lok Sabha said that it is the underprivileged section of the society, which will bear the impact of pandemic chiefly.
“In J&K, we have 50,000 daily wagers and contractual workers on roads demanding release of their pending wages. How can they fight the outbreak without having a penny in their pockets? There is a dire need to release their dues and do away with SRO 202. These are not just 50,000 daily wagers and contractual workers, it is the families associated with them as well, and who are at the receiving end. How can they provide for family’s nutrition demand, sanitary and medicine in these circumstances? Hence I urge the government to come to the rescue of the affected employees who unfortunately have been working at par with other government employees but are sadly been denied their due wages.”
He also urged the government to shift all detainees from J&k languishing in jails across the country to J&k. “The measure will bring respite to their kith and kin, who don’t have the resources to visit them outside J&k. The COVID-19 sprawl has already made long travels risky as well. Therefore on humanitarian grounds the detainees should be shifted to J&k without any delay.”