In order to comply with the guidelines during the extended lockdown, the Army on Monday issued fresh directives for its personnel set to rejoin duty after leave, reporting for temporary duty and courses. Priority will be given to personnel bound for the northern and eastern commands, responsible for the Line of Control (LOC) facing Pakistan and the Line of Actual Control(LAC) facing China respectively.
All personnel in the Army will be classified as Green, Yellow and Red. Those who have completed 14 days of quarantine would be classified Green, those who need to undergo 14-day quarantine classified Yellow and those symptomatic requiring isolation and further treatment in COVID-19 hospitals would be classified Red.
Moreover, all personnel from Nepal and presently on leave were ordered to remain at their home stations till COVID-19 situation stabilises there and the government opens the border for movement of people.
Giving this information here, army sources said requisite instructions will be passed to such personnel from their parent units, headquarters or establishments regarding the movement of personnel from Nepal.
In a related development, the Unified Commanders Conference, scheduled to be held for two days from April 22 now stands postponed, they said. This conference is an annual event chaired by the Defence Minister and attended by the chiefs of the three Services, Chief of Defence Staff and National Security Advisor.
The Army commanders which was to be held last week was also postponed due to the pandemic.
As regards fresh orders for personnel about to rejoin duties, sources said the process has been planned in a phased manner considering the number of individuals rejoining and the requirement for smooth reporting, quarantine and onward dispersal of units.
The instructions stipulate personnel will rejoin only on receipt of specific instructions from unit, formation or establishment that has granted leave or temporary duty. Any individual whose leave station is within 500 km of the unit or duty station is allowed to directly report to unit using private transport only while individuals who are beyond the 500 km’ criteria will report to nearest unit, station headquarter in private vehicle only.
The Army has also stated that orders for reporting do not apply to ‘hotspots’ and ‘containment zones’. Individuals in hotspots and containment zones will follow strict 'No Movement' till the areas are de-notified as containment zones, sources added.