Over 25,000 Pakistani Hindu migrants living in Rajasthan are not able to get vaccines or food assistance to protect against the challenges posed by the second wave of Covid-19 as government permissions remain held up, said an official.
Hemji Kolhi, who came to Jodhpur from Mirpur Khas district in Pakistan in January 2015, is currently living in a temporary residence in Anganwa village along with 250 other migrant families. He says the community has not received any medical help to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak so far. Not just that, “Rising unemployment has led to a shortage of ration in many households,” he claims.
According to the home department, 22,146 Pakistani migrants are currently living in Rajasthan on long-term visas (LTVs), however, Seemant Lok Sangathan– an organisation fighting for their basic rights– puts the number over 25,000. State’s medical department records suggest about 17,180 of LTV holding Pakistanis reside in 24 slums in Jodhpur alone.
Recently, after some of them tested positive for Covid-19, the Rajasthan medical and health department on May 5 ordered a door-to-door survey in 24 slums, however, in absence of necessary documents such as Aadhaar card, their vaccination remains stuck. The Sangathan claims the community has also largely remained excluded from the process of screening, testing and treatment for Covid-19.
“Absence of an Aadhaar card is the biggest obstacle in the vaccination of Pak migrants… We have written a letter to the chief minister and demanded that Pakistani passports, residential permits (RP) or long term visas (LTVs) be made the basis for vaccination of Pak migrants,” said Hindu Singh Sodha, president of Seemant Lok Sangathan. He argues that absence of vaccination not only poses a risk to the migrants’ families, but also to Indians living around them.
State’s chief medical and health officer Balwant Manda says guidelines in this regard have been sought from the state government. “After a policy decision is taken at the government level, the requisite steps can be taken for vaccination of Pak migrants,” Manda says and adds that in the interim, a door-to-door survey is being carried out in their settlements for testing and treatment for Covid-19.
No vaccination also means that Pakistani migrants are struggling to find safe employment at a time when the government’s assistance with food has not been forthcoming, unlike last year, when they received food packets during the nationwide lockdown. Sodha says the state’s proposal to issue special ration cards to migrant families considering them “special citizens” under the National Food Security Act is also awaiting Centre’s nod. According to the state government proposal prepared in February, 1107.3 quintals of wheat is required monthly for migrants.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former minister Vasudev Devnani says he too has written to the Union home minister and the chief minister demanding vaccination of Pakistani migrants.
