Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Union Government has issued an order to states and Union Territories to facilitate inter-state movement of stranded people including migrant labourers in the country.
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday allowed movement of such people – including migrant labours, workers, students, tourists and others – and also provided the procedure for the same.
MHA has included a sub-clause regarding the movement of people who are stranded due to lockdown announced last month due to coronavirus outbreak.
Home Ministry said in its order that all persons must be medically screened at source and destination and kept in home or institutional quarantine on arrival, as per Health Ministry’s guidelines.
All states and Union Territories have been asked to designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons. The nodal authorities shall also register the stranded persons within their states and union territories.
The moving persons would be screened and those found asymptomatic will be allowed to proceed. Buses will be used for transport of groups of persons. The buses will be sanitized and shall follow social distancing norms in seating.
The states and union territories falling on the transit route will allow the passage of such persons to the receiving states and union territories.
On arrival at their destination, such persons will be kept in home quarantine or institutional quarantine based on the assessment of local health authorities. They would be kept under watch with periodic health check ups. They will be encouraged to use Aarogya Setu app to monitor and track their health status.
Home Ministry today held a comprehensive review meeting on the lockdown situation. There has been tremendous gains and improvement in the situation due to lockdown till now.
Ministry spokesperson said to ensure that these gains are not squandered away, the lockdown guidelines should be strictly observed till 3rd May. New guidelines to fight COVID19 will come into effect from 4th of May, which shall give considerable relaxations to many districts. The spokesperson said details regarding this shall be communicated in the days to come.