Puttur: Two businessmen from Puttur in Karnataka district went to Rajkot a month ago to check about the areca nut market and they ended up being stuck in Gujarat for 21 days now- the two have been living in their car and are totally dependent on social workers for food and medicine and are using the toilet in the nearby restaurant.
While the duo sought help to return home, Dakshina Kannada’s deputy commissioner asked their counterpart in Valsad to guarantee them food and accommodation. Valsad does not have COVID until now.
Ashiq Hussain from Samethadka and Mohammed Thakeen from the village of Kemminje in Puttur Taluk had gone to Rajkot to explore the market there while planning to start a business in the state. By March 20, they decided to return home as the COVID-19 outbreak was worsening.
On his way back to Mangaluru, his car was stopped at a checkpoint at Umbergaon in Bhilad, near the Gujarat-Maharashtra border, when the country was announced to close on March 24.
A local social worker, Kashaf Sayyed, has been organizing food and medicine for us, Hussain said. “We couldn’t find a room in any hostel. We were forced to sleep in the car all these days. The owner of a nearby restaurant allowed us to use the bathroom and toilet. We have explained our situation to many people and asked them to help us get home, but no one has come.
They have contacted the Dakshina Kannada administration and legislators to rescue them.
Rasheed Vitla, a social worker in contact with Hussain and Thakeen, said that people’s representatives should take the initiative to bring them back. It is your responsibility to help people in the district when they are in crisis, said Vitla, who wrote to the deputy commissioner seeking help for the duo.
DC Sindhu B Rupesh, in his letter to his Valsad counterpart, wrote: “This refers to the representation received from Rasheed Vitla, claiming that two people belonging to Puttur Taluk are trapped at the RTO checkpoint in Umbergaon. They are left in their car, without adequate shelter and food. Therefore, I ask you to kindly provide these people with room and board.
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