Kulgam youth provides food to stranded people on Highway

Umaisar Gull Ganie
Qazigund, Dec 02: A youth from Qazigund of Kulgam district along with his team have been arranging food for thousands of passengers and drivers who often get stranded on Srinagar-Jammu highway due to inclement weather.
Ishrat Rashid Khan aka Laly Khan a resident of Badragund Qazigund under the banner of his trust ‘Rahaat- A ray of hope’ has also helped over 20 poor families in getting married.
Ishrat, 39, while talking with news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that since 2017, he along with nine members and 11 volunteers have been continuously serving food packets to the stranded passengers and truck drivers.
“So far we have served over 10 thousand people mostly non-locals,” he said.
Ishrat said that due to frequent closure of Highway, passengers often face problems like shortage of food, clothes and other items.
“Since, 2017 we have been serving stranded people by providing them food, clothes and other necessary items,” he said
Ishrat said that during covid lockdown, his team distributed 1500 food kits,15,000 masks and sanitizing material in his adjacent neighbourhood.
“We mainly get donations from people from our area. Recently, we provided a sanitization tunnel to Qazigund hospital,” he said.
Ishrat said they are also distributing Rs 40,000 to poor families to help them in getting their daughter married.
“So far we have helped around 20 families,” he said. “Moreover, we have been involving youth in sports activities to keep them away from drug addiction”—(KNO)