SRINAGAR: The Srinagar district administration on Wednesday said that the migrant workers would be allowed to enter the city after testing negative for coronavirus.
According to an order issued by Srinagar district administration said that consequent upon Government’s directions about the movement of labour/workforce from outside J&K to workplaces in respective districts arrangements were made at JT for their testing and quarantine at workplaces/ concerned districts.
“Now it has been decided that Rapid Antigen Testing/ RT-PCR (Real-Time Polymerize Chain Reaction) shall be done on arrival in districts. The scheme has been notified keeping in view the large workforce of brick kilns,” reads the order.
“There are no brick kilns operating in District Srinagar however labor for construction activities and infrastructure projects has been reported to be arriving in some cases. Further, there is also a need to have in place strict arrangements to ensure that all required protocols are followed to avoid the spread of COVID,” it reads.
“Department of Labour and Employment shall be Nodal Department for ensuring end to end arrangements for incoming Labour to ensure their regulated entry, compulsory COVID testing, distancing norms and SOPs at places of work and stay,” it added.
“Deputy Labour Commissioner shall personally oversee the arrangements and personally monitor the process. He shall be designated officer under The Disaster Management Act 2005, for the said purpose,” the order reads.
“Asstt Labour Commissioner, Srinagar shall remain stationed at Pantha-chowk to coordinate entry Labour and compulsory testing at designated camp and further SOPs to be adopted at places of work and stay. Each worker/ labourer shall be given a unique ID number by the Labor Department to ensure his tracking and surveillance, compulsorily indicating the mobile number and other particulars,” it reads.
“Any lapse in management shall be the personal responsibility of concerned officers. The administration also issued guidelines and appointed nodal officer for the regulated entry of non-local labourers,” it added.
The following arrangements shall be put in place to assist the Labor Department in smooth management of workforce and adherence to notified SOPs:-
Security for the camp and deployment at entry points is being done by the District Police, Srinagar. Traffic police deployment is also been made by SSP traffic. Sub-Divisional Magistrate, East Srinagar, shall coordinate with Police for deployment.
The Deputy Labor Commissioner / Asstt Labor Commissioner shall establish a Control Room at Panthachowk for overall coordination. The control room shall have reps from all the departments deputed already at disposal of Tehsildar Panthachowk. They shall coordinate with Lakhanpur and JT teams, and ensure that no entry is allowed beyond the manifest received. Any case of illegal entry beyond the manifest shall be put under the category of mandatory paid quarantine at Pantahchowk camp.
The following guidelines shall be implemented without any relaxation, by Deputy / Asstt Labor Commissioner, and they shall be personally responsible in case any laborer/ worker is found in the city in violation of these:
- Mandatory Rapid Antigen Testing/ RT-PCR
- Unique ID for each person
- Wearing mask all the times
- Social distancing at places of stay
- Social distancing at places of work
- Complete database of places of stay and work
- Contact numbers/ address details of labor contractors
- Daily reporting on arrival
- Database of labour
- Installation of Aarogya Setu
Any vehicles found ferrying laborers without permission shall be seized, imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 and shall not be released till the cost of Rapid Antigens Testing/ RT-PCR and other logistics is recovered from the owner of vehicle/contractor. Likewise, the labour contractors shall be booked for any violation of norms at places of work or stay. A fine of Rs 50,000 shall be imposed on the contractor for violation of norms. All the costs including testing, logistics etc shall be recovered from the contractor wherever the unauthorized movement of labor is found.
Labor Deptt shall communicate to all Tehsildars the details of places of work and places of stay of labor for strict monitoring and regular inspections. Further, directions shall be issued separately.
This order is issued under the Disaster Management Act and The Epidemic Diseases Act. Any violation thereof shall be dealt under provisions of the said Act.
