Uttarakhand lifts restrictions for inbound travellers as Unlock 4 set to kick in

The Uttarakhand government has decided to lift the travel restriction imposed in the state, barring the entry of more than 2,000 persons into the state a day, but said that those inbound will still have to register on the smart city portal.

"This is to inform you that the upper limit fixed for certain categories for inbound people to Uttarakhand is removed and wherever RT-PCR test is mentioned may be read as RT-PCR test by ICMR authorised lab or TrueNAT test," an official order said on Sunday.

The state government had earlier imposed an upper limit for the entry of people into the state to 2,000 in a single day to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

"As directed in the Ministry of Home Affairs letter dated August 22, 2020, there shall be no restriction on the interstate and intra-state movement of persons and goods. No separate permission/approval/e-pass will be required for such movement," the order said. "In the abovementioned context, it is again clarified that the inbound person to Uttarakhand shall mandatorily register themselves on smart city portal as mentioned in the point D, Para 5.1 of the letter dated Aug 4 2020," it added.

The order said that even though the registration is mandatory, no separate permission, approval, e-pass shall be required for such movement. The registration document shall necessarily be verified at the border check post, while the inbound person is making entry, it said.

The order said that the registration is made compulsory to make the contact tracing of the inbound person easy, in case they are found COVID-19 positive later.

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Unlock 4

As India's COVID-19 cases soar, the Centre extended the current lockdown limited to containment zones till 30 September. The MHA released the detailed guidelines under 'Unlock 4' allowing resumption of Metro Rail services, social gatherings upto 100 people with social distancing, open-air theatres. Schools, colleges and other institutions, cinema halls, swimming pools, theatres, and similar places will remain shut. Centre has also directed states to not impose any local lockdown outside containment zones without MHA approval and to allow free movement of people and goods throughout the nation.

(With ANI inputs) (PTI Photo)

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