Chidambaram lauds Centre's move for stranded persons, demands running of sanitised trains

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday welcomed the Centre's decision to allow the movement of inter-state movement of migrants and students stranded across the country due to the nationwide lockdown. He contended that this was originally a demand put forth by Congress in mid-April. At the same time, he maintained that buses alone would not be sufficient for this purpose. Chidambaram called upon the Union government to run sanitised trains to ensure that a large number of migrants would be able to go back to their home states. Currently, there are 31,787 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 7,797 persons have recovered while 1008 casualties have been reported.

Read: MASSIVE: MHA Allows Inter-state Movement Of Stranded Migrants, Students Across The Country

Read: Farm Growth Not To Be Impacted Much This Fiscal Due To COVID-19 Lockdown: Agri Min

Guidelines for inter-state transport of stranded persons

As per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, all state governments have been directed to designate nodal officers and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons. The nodal authorities shall register the stranded persons within their state or Union Territory. The stranded individuals shall be allowed to proceed only after being medically screened.

The sending and receiving state must consult each other when a group of stranded persons seeks to move from one state to another state and mutually agree to movement by road. The buses used for the purpose of transporting the migrants shall be sanitised and follow social distancing norms. Furthermore, the states falling in the transit route will allow the passage of such persons to the receiving state. They will again be tested for COVID-19 at their destination and kept in home quarantine or sent to an institutional quarantine facility as per the assessment. 

Read: Indian-origin Scientist Part Of A Team That Used AI To Crack COVID-19 Genome Signature

Read: Coronavirus Live Updates: MHA Permits Inter-state Movement Of Stranded Migrants, Tourists