Over ten lakh workers, half of them outsiders, have lost their jobs in Kashmir valley after August 5, when centre abrogated Article 370, besides divided the state into two Union Territories.
Shortly before announcing scrapping of special status of the state, central government ordered all outsiders, including tourists, Amarnath pilgrims and workers, to leave the valley. Students of different professional colleges, including NIT Srinagar, were also asked to leave for home.
About four lakh construction and other workers from different parts of the country, including Bihar, West Bengal (WB), Uttar Pradesh (UP), Punjab and Rajasthan, also left the valley. Though majority of them left on their own, others were asked by police to leave for safety reasons.
However, carpenters belonging to Sikh community from Punjab have returned to valley after leaving for a short duration. Migration of work force from the valley to their homes had badly hit thousands of industrial units, which remain closed since August 5, causing a loss of billions of rupees.
Over 200 units in Industrial Estate Khanmoh in south Kashmir district of Pulwama are totally closed due to strike against the scrapping of Article 370 and 35 A on August 5. “We are suffering a loss of over Rs 3 crore daily due to total closure of these units,” president of the Industrial Estate Zubair Ahmad said.
“There were 40,000 workers from different parts of the country who left immediately after government ordered them to leave,” he said, adding it was 40 per cent of the total work force working in these units.
Over one lakh local workers were also left jobless after August 5 announcement by the centre, he added.
Not a single unit is working since August 5, he said, adding these units have suffered a loss of about 200 crore and nobody knows when the situation will become normal.
However, he said, even if situation will return to normal it will take months to bring back the outside workers.
Ahmad said all unit holders have taken loan from banks and other financial institutions. “How can we repay the bank loan installment when there is no production,” he asked.
He demanded that government should constitute and send a committee to Industrial estate to assess the losses suffered by the unit holders due to strike after centre scrapped Article 370 and 35 A.
Similarly, units in other major Industrial Estates across the valley also remained closed due to which they have suffered a loss of billions of rupees since August 5.
Jammu and Kashmir is currently under President's rule. The state Assembly was dissolved on November 2018 after the ruling coalition between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) fell apart in June 2018.
The Valley has remained under lockdown for nearly two months since the abrogation of the Article 370 by the BJP-led Centre and a sweeping crackdown on not just militants but even mainstream parties like National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party with former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti under detention.
An array of political leaders, businessmen, lawyers, activists and others have also been confined to Centaur Hotel on the banks of Dal Lake which has been declared as a sub-jail by the state administration. No announcement has yet been made on the charges under which the mainstream leaders and others have been arrested, and whether and when they will be released.
Relatives of Omar and Mehbooba recently were allowed to meet the leaders at Hari Niwas Palace and a guest house at Cheshma Shahi where the two leaders are being held respectively while Dr Farooq has been booked under PSA and his Gupkar house has been declared as a subsidiary jail.
Earlier, the daughter of Mehbooba, Iltija Mufti, had written to the home minister that she was fearing for her life and that she was being denied permission to meet her mother who she said has been confined to ‘one room’.