Srinagar/May,8 : The Jammu and Kashmir government is arranging special trains for its residents stranded across the country due to the lockdown and will bear the cost of the tickets, even as 30,000 people have so far returned to the their homes with proper regulation, the Home Department said on Friday.
“Train services are being arranged for stranded persons of J&K, particularly from far off places. These trains will start arriving shortly and necessary coordination with the sending states as also with Railway authorities is going on,” a statement from the J&K Home Department said. “Else, will be quarantined for 21 days in Kathua,” the statement said.
The J&K government issued a standard operating procedure on April 30, a day after the Union Ministry of Home affairs allowed movement of stranded persons with certain conditions. “The Government of J&K has collected details of stranded persons who wish to return to J-K by providing web links for registration,” the statement said.
Arrangements are being made for their arrival in an orderly manner while adhering to the norms of social distancing and undertaking tests to ensure that timely action is taken to prevent any spread of COVID-19 in J&K, it said.
“Approximately 30,000 persons have entered the UT, with proper regulation, from Lakhanpur. During this period, migrant workers, students and stranded persons from the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have already returned to their homes.
“The stranded persons in the states/UTs of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Delhi have been permitted to return, in a regulated manner, with effect from May 7 and this process will continue for a week,” the Home Department said. The government said it is necessary that the return is managed properly so that its efforts to contain COVID-19 do not get adversely affected.
“The government reassures all the stranded persons of J&K that it is taking every possible step for their early return to their homes. The government is fully aware of the details of the stranded persons of J&K at various places across the country, not only through the web links started by the Government of J&K but also from the data shared by the sending states/UTs,” the statement said.
