Institutional quarantine facility in every district of the State needs to be strengthened keeping in view the large number of Himachalis stranded in various parts of the country willing to come back to their native places, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Monday.
Holding a video conference with the Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police and Chief Medical Officers of the State from Shimla, Thakur said that 55 thousand people of the State have applied for e-pass for entering to the State. He said that as large number of these people would be coming from red zones, therefore would require institutional quarantine facility.
The Chief Minister directed the Deputy Commissioners to identify adequate number of such facilities in their respective districts. He said that it should be ensured that these institutions were away from busy areas and have independent facility like wash rooms etc. He said that proper sanitization and hygiene of these institutions must be ensured.
Thakur said all the people coming from red zones and with symptoms must be kept in institutional quarantine, adding that each and every person entering the State should be thoroughly medically examined and only then decided whether he/she has to be kept under institutional quarantine or home quarantine.
He said special train from Bengaluru would reach Una on May 13 and another special train from Goa would reach on May 15. He directed the DC Una to make foolproof arrangements to ensure that there was no chaos and elaborate arrangements were made for their medical examination and also ensuring their further journey to their respective districts.
The Chief Minister said he also had a telephonic conversation with his Uttarakhand counterpart T.S. Rawat to help the Himachalis stranded in that State. He said the Uttarakhand Government has agreed to bring all the stranded Himachalis at various places of Uttarakhand upto Dehradun and from there adequate arrangements would be made to bring them to their native place.
Thakur said that intra-district movement must now be allowed without pass whereas inter-district movement should also be allowed with permit, except from the Baddi Police district comprising of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh area. He also stressed the need for starting economic activities in the State.
The Chief Minister said that institutional quarantine facilities must be created in such a way that people willing to pay for better facilities would be provided the same on payment basis. He said about 300 students would also be arriving from Ukraine at Chandigarh soon, adding that they would be kept under institutional quarantine.
Chief Secretary Anil Khachi said that mass movement of migrants from the State should be staggered and efforts be made to provide adequate work opportunities to the labourers to check their migration. Director General of Police S.R. Mardi, Additional Chief Secretary Health R.D. Dhiman, Principal Secretaries Onkar Sharma and J.C. Sharma and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Sanjay Kundu also shared their views.
Deputy Commissioners of the State also gave details regarding arrangements made by them in their respective districts to facilitate the people arriving from various parts of the country.