Jammu: Despite assurances by the Jammu and Kashmir government over the safety of migrant workers in view of the recent militant attack in Ganderbal which left seven workers dead, several non-local workers are flocking Jammu from the valley over safety concerns.
Seven workers including a doctor from Budgam were killed while many others were injured after militants opened fire on them at a tunnel construction site in Gagangeer area of Ganderbal on Sunday evening.
After the attack, the Divisional Administration Kashmir rubbished rumours of pressuring migrant laborers to leave the Valley, calling them false and frivolous. As per an official statement, the Divisional Administration informed that it has taken “all the required measures to ensure safety and security of non-local workers in the Valley”.
“The rumors spread on social media platforms regarding the Administration pressurizing non-local workers to leave the Valley are false,” the administration said.
Divisional Administration rebuts rumors of pressurising migrant labourers to leave Valley
— Information & PR, J&K (@diprjk) October 22, 2024
Terms them false and frivolous, holding no grounds
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It also asked everyone to “desist from amplifying the unfounded rumours” and sought cooperation of locals to “defeat the agenda of vested interested individuals to derail the peace in Valley”.
Notwithstanding the assurance from the Jammu Kashmir administration for the safety of migrant workers in Kashmir, several non locals have started flocking Jammu railway station after leaving the valley due to fear after the recent killings by militants. ETV Bharat visited the railway platform where dozens of non-locals are eagerly waiting for a train that will take them to their destinations across the country from Jammu.
Among them, Mohammad Siraj, who hails from Bihar, was working in the Shopian district of Kashmir as a laborer for the last six months. But Sunday's attack has prompted Siraj to leave due to fear, Siraj said.
Siraj, sitting at the railway station in Jammu while waiting for the train, told ETV Bharat, “The police and civilian officers have told us to remain vigilant, and due to that, we remain in fear and have left Kashmir for safety”.
“We were told by the administration that we are not safe in Kashmir and should leave Kashmir,” he claimed. Siraj however, now has no hope to come back to Kashmir again for work.
Another migrant worker said that they left the rented accommodation early in the morning on Tuesday along with several other men to catch the bus in Kashmir and reached Jammu.
“We were planning to spend three more months in Kashmir as apple harvesting was at its peak in Kashmir, but our lives remain under constant threat, so we decided to leave Kashmir,” the labourer said.
Dozens of non-local workers have left Kashmir since Monday, either through cabs, buses, or trains after the fresh attack on a group of workers at a construction site in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal on October 20, in which seven workers were killed, including two locals.
The attack was widely condemned by social and political groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the past five years, several migrant workers were killed by militant groups in Kashmir Valley.
In the wake of that militant attack in Gagangeer Ganderbal, security has been tightened around infrastructure and development projects in Jammu and Kashmir.
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