Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow
New Delhi, April 20—The Ajmer Sharif Dargah Management Committee has appealed the central as well as state governments of Rajasthan to make arrangements for transport of thousands of stranded devotees to their native places.
In separate letters sent to the Central and state government, the management said that the devotees could not leave Ajmer after abrupt announcement of lockdown on May 23 evening. The devotees did not get enough time to leave and moreover, all transport services like bus and train also stopped operating after lockdown announcement.
They are staying in guest houses managed by the Dargah Management, at the residences of the management committee members, ‘khadims’ and private hotels. Their cost of food and lodging are being borne by the management committee itself.
Besides, thousands of hotel employees are also stranded in the city. They want to leave Ajmer for their native places as there is no work in the city due to lockdown.
Haji S. M. Hameed Chishti of the management committee told India Tomorrow over phone that he had taken up the issue with Central and Rajasthan governments about a week ago but there has been no response so far. He said that there were over 3,000 stranded devotees from all over India, including 744 from West Bengal, 569 from Uttar Pradesh, 601 from Andhra Pradesh, 271 from Bihar, 255 from Maharashtra, 356 from Karnataka, 72 from Jharkhand, 75 from Gujarat and 28 from Delhi.
“Proper care is being taken of the devotees and by the Grace of Allah, no Covid-19 case has been found in the Dargah campus so far”, said Chishti.
“The Dargah Committee of Ajmer, Anjuman Syed Zadghaan, Khuddam Ajmer, Chishti Foundation and Anjuman Sheikh Zadghaan jointly appealed to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Chief Ministers of the states to which devotees belong, and Union Minister Piyush Goyal, for special arrangement of trains and buses for devotees so that they could reach their destinations”, said Chishti.
The committee has also asked for special trains from Ajmer to West Bengal and Ajmer to Chennai and buses from railway stations to enable the devotees to reach their residences after their arrival at the respective railway stations.
In a joint letter, Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties(PUCL), Jamaat-e-Islami Hind(Rajasthan unit), NAPM(Rajasthan), Centre for Equity Studies, Pink City Haj and Education Welfare Society, Helping Hands, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Soochna ka Adhikar Samiti, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Rajasthan Asangathit Mazdoor Union and Nirman Evam General Mazdoor Union have urged the Rajasthan government to take up the issue of Ajmer Dargah devotees with the Central government and ensure their shifting to their native places.
They said that if the Central government could arrange shifting of UP students from Kota to their native places, the union government should also make arrangement to rescue the stranded devotees of Ajmer and drop them at their residences safely.
The representatives of these organisations said that details of all the devotees, including their phone numbers and addresses have been provided to Ajmer district administration.
Stating that most of these devotees had run out of money and were now living at the residences of `khadims’ and management committee members and the latter were also not in a position to bear expenses due to lockdown, it is urgently necessary now to arrange transport to shift these people to their homes without any delay. It has also become all the more necessary after extension of lockdown period till May 3.
