3 labourers on way to home fall off hill, killed

JAMMU: Three labourers who took an alternative route to reach homes amidst the lockdown imposed to prevent spread of coronavirus, died a tragic death after they fell off a mountain in Banihal, while one of them received injuries.
The incident took place on Tuesday night in Ramban district.
A group of seven labourers working in Kashmir Valley wanted to return to their homes in Banihal.
The movement across Jawahar tunnel has been restricted due the ongoing country-wide lockdown and so the labourers decided to take the Verinag (Kapran)-Banihal top route through Pir Panjal ranges, on foot, officials said.
“However, three of them died and another got injured after they fell off a mountain while going from Kashmir to Banihal,” said a senior official.
The matter surfaced after three persons who accompanied the labourers reached their homes and told about the incident to their families, he said.
Later, police, Army and locals from Banihal rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies.
The deceased have been identified as Gulam Mohidin, Reyaz Ahmed and Zubair Ahmed, all from Ramban's Banihal tehsil and aged between 20 to 30 years.
The one injured, identified as Parveez Ahmed (18), was admitted to sub-district hospital.
An Army official said that the group of seven was stranded in the heights of snowbound Halangali in Banihal belt.
“While three of them were rescued by the troops in Hinjal, four of them were rescued from Nagmadu Nala in an unconscious state,” a defence spokesman said.
“They were immediately evacuated to Dholmandu where three of them were declared dead by the medical staff,” the spokesperson added.
In Anantnag, 23 non-local labourers were arrested near Verinag area when they tried to take alternate routes to reach Chambalvas Banihal area in a bid to avoid police.
All these men were shifted to Primary Health Centre for screening and have been quarantined at Lower Munda.
Despite the strict lockdown imposed across the country, people have been resorting to desperate means to reach back their homes, while avoiding the authorities.
On Tuesday, four villagers had feigned the death of one of them to jump the lockdown to reach their home in Poonch district.
These four people belonging to Sailan village of Surankote tehsil in Poonch convinced one of them identified as Hakim Din to feign death so that they could evade the lockdown to reach their village.
The accused even managed to get the death certificate of Hakim Din from the Casualty department of the government medical college Jammu, accompanied with a letter saying that the ambulance carrying the 'dead body' should be allowed to go to Sailan village.
However, Police intercepted the ambulance just a few km before its destination and found that there was no dead body in it. While the ambulance driver was arrested, the four villagers were sent to quarantine.
In another incident, the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday had detained 33 labourers who were trying to sneak into the union territory's Bhadarwah town from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, through snow covered Chattergalla and Padri pass despite the lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus.
They were detained and sent to a hospital for check-up of COVID-19 symptoms.

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