Several people said daily wage labourers are being encouraged to leave. On Sunday, a worried administration had corralled them into government schools and colleges in vulnerable districts. By Tuesday all of them had either left the Valley or joined work in secure locations.
THE administration has stepped up police presence and security in areas inhabited by migrant labourers in Kashmir, though their sheer size and spread in the unorganised sector and lack of certainty on the network targeting them are making their job difficult.
Several people said daily wage labourers are being encouraged to leave. On Sunday, a worried administration had corralled them into government schools and colleges in vulnerable districts. By Tuesday all of them had either left the Valley or joined work in secure locations.
Police have been asking labourers to leave for the past few days, but many were not leaving as their payments were stuck. On Sunday night over a hundred labourers were brought here and housed in the government school. They all left by Monday evening,” a shop-owner in Baramulla’s Choora tehsil said. His shop is opposite the government school where labourers were sheltered on Sunday.
The Sopore Superintendent of Police, Sudhanshu Verma, however, denied anyone was being asked to leave. “We tried to provide in situ security. We increased patrolling in areas where labourers were working, and increased police presence. We gave them our numbers so that they can call us in case of an emergency.
