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Institutional quarantine mandatory for Himachal residents returning home: Jai Ram
All Himachalis coming from red zones will be tested for COVID-19.
All residents returning to Himachal Pradesh from others states will be medically examined and need to stay placed under institutional quarantine before being sent home, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Sunday.
He was addressing a meeting of nodal officers appointed by the government to coordinate with other states to facilitate movement of stranded Himachal residents.
The CM said the government is concerned about safety of both its people stranded across the country and those living in the state.
“All Himachalis coming from red zones will be tested for COVID-19,” he said.
Thakur directed the nodal officers to ensure that they keep a close liaison with their counterparts in other states so that stranded people could be brought back at the earliest.
“Priority will be given to students as they are the most vulnerable in this time of distress,” he added.
The CM said as many as 52,763 Himachal residents stranded in different parts of the country have applied for the COVID e-pass.
Similarly, about 63,044 from different states are stranded in Himachal and want to leave, he said, adding that till date as many as 30,219 people from other states have been evacuated.
He said a special train will ferry stranded Himachalis from Bengaluru to Una on May 11.
“The state government will request the Centre to start similar trains from Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Bihar to facilitate return of Himachal residents,” he said.
The chief minister said adequate arrangement will be made at the Una railway station for ensuring proper social distancing. He added that proper arrangements of masks, sanitisers and food packages will also be made there. “District-wise counters will be set up to facilitate people,” he said.
