Congress on Thursday questioned failure of the government to provide free ration to people, as announced last month. In a statement the party expressed concern over the indifferent attitude of the authorities towards the stranded people in different districts and regions within J&K besides those in other states. Questioning the delay in disbursement of the free supply of ration to the people even after more than three weeks of lockdown, the party said the poor people who were without any earnings, were finding difficult to purchase essential items. “The free ration should have been distributed immediately. Only five kg rice and one kg dal is not enough. Even it has been delayed. It is very meager assistance. As result of the delay, large numbers of people are sleeping without food,” the statement said. The J&K Congress chief G A Mir said the administration was indifferent to the hardships of stranded people, both within and outside J&K. He said those stranded within UT were being allowed only on the sole discretion of authorities while those outside were holding protests and hunger strikes over the lack of proper response from the authorities.He said the administration should have appointed nodal officers for each state to help the stranded people who could have identified the exact number of people in each state belonging to J&K.Mir sought immediate disbursement of free ration to poor people and more financial support to them besides release of pending wages to different categories of workers.
