Minority migrants from Pakistan staying in Rajasthan are waiting for their vaccination as they don’t have Aadhar or other identity proof, which is mandatory to get vaccinated. The Covid-19 infection is already there in their bastis and five of the migrants staying in Jodhpur have allegedly died of Covid-19 infection.
There are more than 30 thousand migrants of Pakistan that are staying in border districts of Rajasthan like Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer. Around 80 per cent of them are in Jodhpur alone. There are around 21 bastis of migrants on the outskirts of the city. Most migrants are on long term visa and living here for so many years waiting to get citizenship of India. They don’t have any identity proof like Aadhar or voter ID card, so they can’t be vaccinated, although Covid infection is griping their habitations like any other areas of the city, but these have not been screened.
Hindu Singh Sodha of Seemant Lok Sangthan, an organization fighting for the rights of the migrants said ‘these people are facing a hard time in the pandemic. They don’t have citizenship so they are denied government welfare schemes. There are many who are symptomatic of Covid and they have to go to private hospitals. We were demanding screening and proper treatment of this community. The state government has ordered this now, but vaccination is still a matter of concern for these migrants. We are demanding the government to vaccinate migrants as a special group and send a letter to the government regarding this.
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