The Jammu and Kashmir government has given green signal tothe arrival of trains in the Union Territory with its residents being evacuatedfrom different parts of the country amid the Covid-19 lockdown.
The inflow through trains was preceded by the regulated roadtransportation of the stranded persons via Lakhanpur, said an official.
The trains entering the Union Territory will disembark thepassengers at Udhampur railway station. The first train is expected to arriveon Sunday evening or Monday morning.
The highly regulated homecoming of such persons aboard thetrains has been initiated with elaborate preemptive arrangements. The authorities have framed intensiveprotocols and established detailed procedure for their district wise return.
District administration Udhampur has created a fresh samplecollection capacity of 1000 per day for train returnees as there will be 100percent testing of the passengers for Covid-19.
As per the administration, all arrangements for receiving,registering and sending the returnees to their destination by bus have beenmade.
The returnees to Jammu, Samba, Kathua will be sent to Jammuwhere their samples will be taken and then quarantined (administrativequarantine).
All returnees to Doda, Kishtwar will be sent to Doda andafter the sample collections there, they will be then quarantined(administrative quarantine) at the respective districts.
Similarly, the returnees to Reasi, Rajouri and Poonch willbe sent to their districts. Their samples will be taken at their respectivedistricts and quarantined (administrative quarantine) at there.
The returnees to Ramban, Udhampur will be sent to Udhampurwhere their samples will be taken. However, they will be quarantined (administrativequarantine) at Ramban and Udhampur respectively.
The returnees to Kulgam, Anantnag will have their samplestaken at Udhampur. They will be then sent to Kulgam and Anantnag andquarantined (administrative quarantine) in their districts.
All other returnees to remaining 8 Kashmir districts will besent to their respective districts. Their samples will be picked up in theirown districts and then quarantined (administrative quarantine) there.
In case Udhampur has some spare capacity on a particularday, it will take samples of a few more districts in this order – Kupwara,Budgam, Srinagar. Udhampur will inform the concerned district accordingly.
All returnees have to be 100% tested and undergo’administrative quarantine’ with no exceptions. Only if tests come negative, can they be sent for home quarantine for 14days.
All returnees will be sent by bus convoys with police escorttill they reach quarantine facilities.
Meanwhile, Divisional administration Jammu has facilitatedreturn of 97 Kashmiri residents who were stranded in Jammu.
The stranded Kashmiri residents left for Srinagar andGanderbal districts through special SRTC buses from Sunjwan, Bathindi andSidhra.
Officials informed that this process will continue for nextfew days.
They said that registration link/contact details have beenmade available on website of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu for familiesdesirous to travel from Jammu to Kashmir by bus.