Gorakhpur workers return home, narrate trauma
169 people evacuated from strife-torn Kabul by an Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster
LUCKNOW: The escape from Taliban was not easy for 40-year-old Ranjit Maurya, a native of Bhaishat village located in Barhalganj block area of Gorakhpur district.
Maurya reached his village on Monday morning. Along with 168 other people he was evacuated from strife-torn Kabul by an Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster. Along with four other people from Gorakhpur region, Maurya boarded a bus from Anand Vihar bus terminus located in Delhi for home. On Monday morning, he reached his village in Gorakhpur district. Maurya said that he was trapped in a steel factory in Kabul along with 28 people from various districts of Uttar Pradesh, after the Taliban took over the Afghan capital on August 15. Even as the owner of the factory, a resident of Afghanistan, assured them of safety, food as well as lodging facilities, the threat issued by the local Taliban commander made them panic.
“Sounds of continuous firing by the Taliban, reports of atrocities committed by them after the fall of Kabul, were a nightmare for us. As the Taliban tightened their grip on the city, we lost hope of returning home. The report that the Indian government was making efforts for the evacuation of its citizens rekindled hope in us,” he said.
Maurya and other workers contacted their family members over the mobile to inform them about the situation. They requested the family members to contact the Uttar Pradesh and central government for their safe return home. The family members of some workers contacted the local administration to share the location of the people trapped in the steel factory in Kabul, he said.
On Saturday, the factory owner told us that personnel of the Indian embassy had contacted him for evacuation of workers trapped in the factory. With the assistance of the local travel agent, buses were sent to the factory to transport the workers to the airport.
“The commute from the factory to the airport was full of tense moments. The Taliban could be seen moving on the streets with sophisticated weapons. We were stopped at a barricade erected on the road by the Taliban. They entered the bus, scanned the people seated, and checked our documents and passports. Once it was clear that all the people on the bus were Indian citizens, the bus was permitted to move toward the airport,”
THEY REQUESTED FAMILY MEMBERS TO CONTACT THE UTTAR PRADESH AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT FOR THEIR SAFE RETURN HOME.
he said.
“The scenario at the airport was chaotic. Thousands of people were jostling with each other to enter the airport, while the Taliban beat them up mercilessly and fired in the air to scare them. There was virtual mayhem. We thought we would not make it into the airport, but the bus driver managed to enter from a separate gate controlled by security forces,” he said.
Maurya, who worked as a welder in the factory, said, “I have been working in Afghanistan since 2017. The locals are friendly and helpful. I got a good salary and the environment was peaceful. Life was good till the situation turned volatile after the Taliban took over the city,” he said.
“The factory owner told us that after the situation normalises he will contact us. We have assured him that we will return if the situation in Afghanistan becomes normal,” he added.
Shailendra Shukla, a resident of Dubauli village near Chaurichaura town in Gorakhpur district, was given a grand welcome by family members and villagers after he reached the village on Monday morning.
“With the assistance of our government we managed to escape from the clutches of the Taliban,” he said.
“On way to the airport, the bus on which we were travelling was hijacked by the Taliban. We were taken to their camp. To scare us they fired in the air. They asked us who all were talking to the media in India on mobile. They checked our documents to ensure that we were not the Afghan citizens fleeing the country. Later, they permitted us to move to the airport,” he said.