In very sorry state affairs the authorities claiming to be the sponsors of the home delivery of ration in the aftermath of lockdown are virtually risking the employees of the Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) department by delaying the process of issuing curfew passes to them as many FSCA &CA employees assigned the job of taking ration to the doorsteps of the people were beaten ruthlessly by the cops while on way to their offices in Srinagar. The reports about the ruthless beating of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) employees at several places in Srinagar city while on way to their offices are highly objectionable as District Magistrate Srinagar should have issued curfew passes to the FCS& CA employees connected with the home delivery system before announcing and implementing the home delivery system in Srinagar. Better it would have been for the government to authorize Director Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs to issue special curfew passes to his employees for implementation of the home delivery system for ration distribution as district magistrates of the districts are already overburdened with the enforcement of lockdown and regulation of health facilities at the hospitals dedicated for the observation and treatment of coronovirous suspects and positive cases respectively.
While enforcing the lockdown for the purposes of containing the COVID 19 spread has to take care of the security and safety of the handlers of home delivery system for ration to ensure hassle free movement of ration to the door steps of people in Kashmir.
It is surprising that deputy commissioners are meddling in the affairs of other departments the time when their attention should have totally focused on enforcement of lockdown and supervision of the hospitals declared COVID 19 medical centres. Since the deputy commissioner and SSP Srinagar have not taken note of the reports that appeared in newspapers about the beating of FCS&CA employees by the cops, the message goes out that synergy between the field agencies of the government in the present challenging situation is missing on the ground. Unfortunately even the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir has not taken note of the reports about the beating of FCS & CA employees while on their way to offices at several places in Srinagar city. The enforcement of lockdown for the purposes of containing the COVID 19 spread does not give cops the power and authority to manhandle and beat ruthlessly even those government officials who are connected with the delivery of ration at the door steps of the people. In the present challenging situation the home delivery of the ration is as important as is the enforcement of the lockdown as the access to ration is as important for the people as is the enforcement of preventive measures for containing the COVID 19 spread. So the government while enforcing the lockdown for the purposes of containing the COVID 19 spread has to take care of the security and safety of the handlers of home delivery system for ration to ensure hassle free movement of ration to the door steps of people in Kashmir.