Chandigarh, April 21, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab has taken a serious view of a large number of pilgrims from Punjab, stranded at the historic Sri Hazur Saheb, Nanded (Maharashtra) for days now due to the national lockdown imposed across the country post the outbreak of Covid-19.
In a statement issued from party headquarters on Tuesday, Leader of Opposition, Harpal Singh Cheema, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that among the more than 4000 stranded pilgrims, farmers and their families were in majority, who depended primarily on farm income.
They were a worried lot as the harvesting season had already begun in the state. He added that their staying away during the harvesting operation for longer spans of time would not only derail the farmers’ income but would also cause a blow to state’s economy.
Elaborating on the plight of the stranded pilgrims, through the letter, Cheema further said that all the pilgrims were lodged in some 1000 rooms in five hostels under the watch of managing committee of Sri Gurudwara Saheb, which he said, was a mockery of social distancing norm.
The letter further said that a majority of the pilgrims were the elderly, women and children who were subjected to a host of problems in the choked hostels. The AAP leader added that those stuck there were subjected to face privations, saying some of them permanently on medicines had run short of stock leaving them to fend for themselves, while students were deprived of their studies currently being imparted online and the farmers, who were desperate to go back to their homes as their ripe seasonal crops had been destroyed partly by the unseasonal rains and the lockdown restrictions.
The LoP has sought intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter to secure immediate and safe return of thousands of pilgrims and their families stuck at the historic shrine to their homes in the state.
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