Over 40,000 stranded J&K residents brought back home

Jammu: Over 40,000 people from Jammu and Kashmir stranded in various parts of the country due to the coronavirus lockdown have been brought back home, officials said on Wednesday.

A total of 39,825 residents of the union territory were brought back to their home through buses, while 3,217 stranded people reached Udhampur on three special trains from Karnataka, Goa and Delhi, an official spokesperson said.

As many as 169 persons will reach Srinagar from Dhaka, Bangladesh, on a special flight, he said.

The administration has assured that all the residents of the union territory stranded in Bangladesh will be brought back to their homes.

“The first flight from Bangladesh with 81 students arrived in Srinagar on May 8 and the second flight with 169 students arrived on Tuesday. To date, 419 students from Bangladesh have arrived in J and K,” the spokesperson said.

Upon their arrival in Srinagar, the students were screened and their samples were taken for COVID-19 testing, he said.

Of the total 39,825 returnees till date, 10,743 came from Punjab, 18,111 from Himachal Pradesh, 10,971 from other states and UTs including Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Madhya Pradesh, as per an official communique by Commissioner Secretary, Jal Shakti, Ajeet Sahu.

The fourth train from Goa carrying 697 stranded passengers is expected to reach Udhampur by this evening, the spokesperson said.

Commissioner Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, who is also the Nodal Officer for management of return of stranded people at Udhampur, and District Development Commissioner, Piyush Singla are personally monitoring the facilities being extended to the passengers during their de-boarding and movement to their home districts at the Udhampur railway station, he said.

PTI