Srinagar
Principal Secretary (Planning) and government spokesman Rohit Kansal on Thursday said that the total number of people returning to the Jammu and Kashmir through various modes of transport has crossed 50,000.
“900 J-K residents including 400 students in Maharashtra being evacuated by ‘special shramik’ train today. This will be the 6th shramik train. Including road and air evacuees, total number of returnees now exceeds 50,000,” Rohit Kansal tweeted.
900 J&K residents including 400 students in Maharashtra being evacuated by Special Shramik Train today. This will be the 6th Shramik train. Including road and air evacuees, total returnees now exceed 50000. All others : Not to worry. Everyone being facilitated.@diprjk
— Rohit Kansal (@kansalrohit69) May 14, 2020
“Special Rajdhani express chugs into Jammu 45 minutes before time. Ghar pahunchne ki jaldi !!! 1018 passengers. 100% sampled in special kiosks at platform. Sent to respective districts. Now for the next train tomorrow. Welcome again,” he tweeted.
Special Rajdhani express chugs into Jammu 45 minutes before time. Ghar pahunchne ki jaldi !!! 1018 passengers. 100% sampled in special kiosks at platform. Sent to respective districts. Now for the next train tomorrow. Welcome again. @diprjk @dcjammuofficial @dtmjat pic.twitter.com/7KK47m99ed
— Rohit Kansal (@kansalrohit69) May 14, 2020
The Indian Railways had partially resumed its passenger train operations from Tuesday after over one and a half months of halt owing to the COVID-19 lockdown in the country.
Initially, the Railways is running 15 pairs of trains and booking for these trains started on Monday.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the train runs from Jammu Tawi station and has been returning and taking those stranded due to the lockdown.
As per details available, the returnees of these special trains belonged to almost all the districts of both Jammu and Kashmir Divisions.
Meanwhile, testing of samples of people of Udhampur district and some other districts is also being carried out by the Health teams at the designated sampling centres.
Pertinently, the Jammu & Kashmir Government has launched a web portal —http://jkmonitoring.nic.in/ to facilitate its residents stranded in other parts of the country. The portal, developed by NIC, enables giving updates to those registered and also allows a person to check his application status.
All those who have registered online using the links opened by the J&K Government earlier NEED NOT register again. The web portal has already been updated with the details of the persons who have already registered through www.jktpo.in. All those who have registered can track the progress of their application.
The government is arranging special trains from various stations across the country to bring back the stranded passengers to their home states/UTs. More than one train is being scheduled from one station if the number of stranded persons is large, eg; Delhi, Bengaluru, Thane/ Mumbai, etc. As and when a person’s turn comes to board the train, he/she shall be notified by way of SMS which will have the details of train timings, departure station, etc. Everyone will get accommodated and therefore there is no need to panic.
In addition to the web portal, a dedicated 24X7 Covid-19 Helpline number – 0191-2466988 has been activated to assist the returnees and address their concerns.
In order to have regulated arrival to enable testing and to control the spread of COVID -19, the portal allows the government to issue an authorization for travel to individuals/groups as per the capacity. On approval of movement by the competent authority, i.e. the Nodal Officer, an SMS goes to the stranded person informing him of such authorization. This authorization is the consent of the Government of J&K to receive that person. This authorization can be downloaded or it can be kept in the electronic form on the mobile and has to be shown to the concerned District Magistrate for issuance of movement pass as per the SOP of the MHA in case of road journey.
If the returnee is part of a group, the registration of only the Group Head has been updated on the portal – this is sufficient for grant of authorization or notifying for train journey through the group head, enabling the entire group to travel as and when the arrangements are in place. The portal provides for editing and adding information of the group by uploading the list of group members.
