JAMMU: After massive operations to evacuate stranded Jammu and Kashmir residents back home from various parts of the country through surface transport especially the railways, air operations resumed this morning with 170 stranded people arriving at Jammu Airport through five flights.
The first flight with 31 passengers on board arrived at the airport here at 8:50 am, followed by four more flights at their scheduled times subsequently.
The Airport authorities have put in place all requisite arrangements and facilities for resuming the flight operations so that all guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) are strictly adhered to.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Sushma Chauhan, Commissioner Jammu Municipal Corporation, Avny lavasa, Regional Transport Officer, Dhanter Singh, Director Airport Jammu Dr. Pravat Ranjan, Joint Director Information, Namrata Dogra and Principal Government Medical College Jammu, Dr Renu Sharma were present at the Airport to receive the passengers.
“All passengers went through thermal screening test at the exit point after maintaining necessary preventive protocols like social distancing and wearing masks”, Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Sushma Chauhan said while monitoring the arrangements at the Airport.
Deputy Commissioner informed that the concerned authorities filled the forms of the arriving passengers with proper information for opting either free or paid quarantine service being arranged by the government. During boarding and travel, it is being ensured that all passengers use masks and follow hand and respiratory hygiene to contain spread of the Virus, she added. She further said that adequate arrangements for sample collection and proper transportation of the passengers to the quarantine centers have been made by the administration.
Pertinently, the government has issued additional instructions, modifications and exemptions to the procedure prescribed in the earlier circulars regarding 100 per cent RTPCR testing of all incoming passengers by train or air and quarantine procedure to be followed.
As per the modified quarantine procedure, pregnant women in the last trimester with a doctor’s certificate of pregnancy; cancer patients on chemotherapy; chronically ill patients discharged from a hospital after a surgical procedure; dialysis patients with a doctor’s certificate of being on dialysis; mothers with infant below 1 year; children below 10 years travelling alone without a family member; Government of India personnel on bonafied government duty and passengers/travellers with an RTPCR test negative certificate from a ICMR approved laboratory/testing facility, not older than two days (48 hours) before the arrival date arriving by air, rail or any other means from outside the UT to J&K will be sampled on arrival for RTPCR testing and sent to Home quarantine for 14 days; and if their test result is positive, they will be brought to a COVID hospital for recovery and treatment.
