Over 56,000 stranded J-K residents brought back home

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has brought back home over 56,000 people who were stranded in various parts of the country due to coronavirus lockdown, officials said on Friday.

While 49,218 people were brought through Lakhanpur in buses, as many as 7,264 arrived on special trains in Jammu and Udhampur so far, they said.

The Rajdhani Express from Delhi brought over 900 stranded J and K residents to Jammu in the morning while two trains -- one from Delhi and another from Aligarh -- reached Railway station Udhampur with 523 and 781 passengers respectively, an official spokesperson said.

Udhampur Deputy Commissioner Piyush Singhla said the district administration has made elaborate arrangements for reception and departure of the passengers to their homes in different districts of the UT.

"Corona warriors are facilitating the returnees to reach their homes," he said.

Singhla said authorities are ensuring strict adherence to the guidelines issued by the Ministries of Home Affairs and the Health and Family Welfare regarding the COVID-19 management during the boarding and de-boarding process.

As per an official communique, of 49,218 returnees coming via Lakhanpur till May 15, 11,513 came from Punjab, 18,286 from Himachal Pradesh, 3,905 from Delhi, 650 from Gujrat, 1,538 from Rajasthan, 2,401 from Haryana, 96 from Chhattisgarh, 2,666 from Uttarakhand, 326 from Maharashtra, 2,766 from Uttar Pradesh, 42 from Odhisa, 35 from Assam, 814 from Madhya Pradesh, 88 from Dehradun, 486 from Chandigarh, 316 from Telangana, 142 from Bihar and 3,148 from other states and UTs.