9 stranded UP labourers reach home after help from Ladakh MP

Nine labourers from Uttar Pradeshs Bahraich district, stranded in Ladakh during the second wave of Covid, have reached their homes thanks to the help extended by social worker Jang Hindustani and Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.They were stranded after Covid was detected among the labourers who were involved in the ongoing work at the new terminal of Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport in Leh.

Nine labourers from Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district, stranded in Ladakh during the second wave of Covid, have reached their homes thanks to the help extended by social worker Jang Hindustani and Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.

They were stranded after Covid was detected among the labourers who were involved in the ongoing work at the new terminal of Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport in Leh. ''We were working as carpenters and had gone there through a contractor,'' one of the labourers, Upendra, who returned home on Thursday told mediapersons. Work was going on in full swing but in May, a Covid test was conducted at the site during which 57 of the 300 labourers working there tested positive, he informed and added that three of the nine labourers who returned had also tested Covid positive.

The area was declared a containment zone and we lived in accommodation provided by the company in which social distancing could not be maintained, he said. Things started improving when all the labourers tested Covid negative on June 5, so we asked the contractor to send us home, Upendra said.

He alleged that the contractor had not made a full payment to them and refused to give more. ''Whatever little we had saved, soon dried up and our relatives back home arranged money for air tickets for June 9,'' he said.

But, we were not allowed to move out on the pretext of another Covid test so we lost the amount spent on the tickets, Upendra said.

Then we contacted a social worker from Bahraich, Jang Hindustani, who helped us, he said.

Hindustani told PTI that after getting in touch with the labourers, he posted their plight on social media and locals started sending money in their accounts. “I too contributed from my side,” he said.

We also contacted Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal and he immediately helped us, Hindustani said, adding that the MP directed the officials to make arrangements to send back those workers who wanted to go.

Air tickets were arranged with the money left with the labourers and from what was contributed by the people. The MP helped in meeting the shortfall in the funds and nine labourers were sent to Delhi from where they reached home by bus.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)