The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday allowed the movement of migrant workers, students, tourists etc stranded at different places in the country. The decision from the government came less than a week before the nation-wide lockdown ends on May 3.
In an order issued on Wednesday, the MHA said that due to the nation-wide lockdown in-place to contain the spread of the coronavirus, many migrant workers, pilgrims, students, tourists and many other people are stranded at different places in the country. They should be allowed to move to their native places.
However, the home ministry also certain guidelines under which the movement of stranded people will be allowed. Under the guidelines, ‘all states/UTs, should designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons. The nodal authorities shall alos register the stranded people withing their states/UTs’.
‘In case of a group of stranded people willing to move between one state/UT to anothe rstate/UT, the sending and receiving states may consult each other and mutually agree to the movement by road’.
‘The moving person(s) would be screened at the departure and those found asymptomatic would be allowed to proceed’.
‘Buses shall be used for the transport of groups of persons. The buses will be sanitised and shall follow safe social distancing norms in seating’.
‘The states/UTs falling on the transit routes will allow the passage of such persons to the receiving states/UTs’.
‘On the arrival at their destination, the people coming from the stranded places would be assessedby the local health authorities and kept in home quarantine, unless the assessment requires keeping the person(s) in institutional quarantine. They would be kept under watch with periodic health check-ups. For this purpose, such persons may be encouraged to use Aarogya Setu appthrough which their health status can be monitored and tracked’.
