Youngsters tread 100 km to reach home from Ludhiana

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Garhshankar, March 27

Stuck in Ludhiana without food and essentials, Akshay, a youth from Jhonowal village in Garhshankar, along with his three other friends, walked home owing to the curfew.

After the lockdown and ongoing curfew in Punjab, Akshay and three of his friends found it difficult to manage, as they were left with very little food. So, on March 25 evening, the four youngsters left Ludhiana on foot and reached Jhonowal village on Thursday by walking for about 100 kilometres.

Akshay works in a private firm in Ludhiana. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown in the country on March 24, he did not get the instructions well. He and his three friends were stuck at home for the entire day on March 25 due to the curfew and did not have food to eat. Due to this, they understood that the problem was going to aggravate and it would be difficult to stay there in the coming days. He, along his friends Harman, resident of Dubarji village of Tarn Taran; Amardeep Singh of Batala in Gurdaspur district; and Vivek Kumar of Nangal, started for Jhonowal on foot from Ludhiana on Wednesday after 5 o’clock in the evening. They kept walking all night and reached Garhshankar on Thursday and after resting for some time, left for Jhunowal village, 20 km away, again. By evening, he reached his village. Amardeep Singh and Harman will stay with him till the situation gets normal, while Vivek will leave for his home in Nangal after staying with him for a day.

Akshay said the time they spent in Ludhiana during the lockdown and the ongoing curfew was extremely difficult. “We did not even have much food with us and due to the strictness of the police and the administration, it was difficult to stay there. So, we left for our village. Since no conveyance was available, we had to walk all the way to Jhonowal,” said Akshay.

They said they had food at a gurudwara on the way last night, after which they kept walking all night. They kept walking without having anything in the day.

NRI hails admn’s efforts

Phagwara: California-based NRI Sikandar Singh has appreciated the efforts of the administration for helping people during the curfew, which has been imposed to check the spread of Covid.

On Thursday morning, he called up Phagwara SDM Gurwinder Singh Johal from the US and requested him to help his sister Satinderpal Kaur, who required milk, vegetables and grocery items. SDM Johal asked the food inspector to help his sister. Shortly, the food inspector provided his sister with grocery items and milk. — OC

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