Asserting that a common sentiment expressed by people stranded outside J&K is that ‘long before Coronavirus they will die of hunger’, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said that the government will have to work out some way to bring them home and help them with food and emergency funds.

Mr Abdullah said the extension of the lockdown till May 3 isn’t something we all wanted but given the threat we face from COVID 19, it’s a necessity. “Let’s do everything we can to cooperate with the authorities to avoid a further extension in May,” he said.

“Over the last few weeks, since the lockdown was first announced, my father & I have been flooded by calls & WhatsApp messages from Kashmiris stuck in various parts of the country, especially North India,” Mr Abdullah, who is the Vice President of National Conference (NC), wrote on micro-blogging site twitter.

He said now that the Modi government is planning an extension to this lockdown something will have to be done for people stuck in other states. “A lot of them don’t have much money and can’t access any more. There is no work available for them to earn off,” he said.

“A common sentiment expressed by most of them had been ‘long before Corona gets us, we will die of hunger’. The Govt will have to work out some way of bringing these people home & pending that needs to do a better job helping them with food & emergency funds,” he further twitted.

Reacting to a tweet by Iltija Mufti, daughter of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, about 14 Kashmir girls stranded at Amritsar, Mr Abdullah said J&K has a nine Seater Beechcraft aircraft that isn’t doing much these days.

“Why can’t this plane make two sorties to Amritsar to fly these girls back home,” he asked.

He said the whole exercise will be completed in a matter of a few hours with support from Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

The NC Vice President said, “We owe it to the poor and weaker sections of society to do everything we can, whether financially or otherwise, to help them through these tough times.”

He said the governments must take the lead but it can’t be just their responsibility.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended the nation-wide lockdown till May 3 to curtail the spread of Coronavirus. He said this during his address to the national on Tuesday morning.