Cap of 15,000 stays on Vaishno Devi yatris
All 20 distts to remain in Orange Zone
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 30: The Jammu and Kashmir Government today extended all guidelines and instructions pertaining to COVID management issued on November 29 by another month till January 31 including closure of all schools, colleges and higher educational institutions and cap on Mata Vaishno Devi Ji pilgrims of 15,000 per day.
The previous guidelines issued by the State Executive Committee (SEC) on November 29 were due to expire on December 31 and have now been extended till January 31.
The order pertaining to extension of guidelines was issued today by SEC Member Secretary Simrandeep Singh.
Extension of the guidelines means that all schools, colleges and higher educational institutions will remain closed in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir till January 31. The Anganwadi Centres will also remain shut. However, the training institutions run by the Centre/UT Governments have been exempted.
Online and distance learning will continue while 50 percent of teaching and non-teaching staff has already been permitted to be called to the Schools for online teaching/tele-counseling and related work, as is the practice in place.
Students from Class 9th to 12th will continue to visit their schools outside Containment Zones on voluntary basis for taking guidance from their teachers.
The upper limit of pilgrims visiting holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi Ji will remain capped at 15,000 per day.
Though the yatra has picked-up after December 25, it still hasn’t crossed the permissible limit of 15,000 and was hovering around 10,000.
Ramesh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) told the Excelsior that cap of 15,000 will also be applicable on December 31 and January 1.
It may be mentioned here that December 31 and January 1 attract huge rush of pilgrims and yatra used to touch 50,000 as many people want to have darshan of Goddess Vaishno Devi Ji on the New Year Eve.
With extension of the previous order, all 20 districts of the Union Territory will stay in Orange Zone except Lakhanpur town in Kathua district on Jammu-Pathankot National Highway and Jawahar Tunnel area on either side of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, which will be in the Red Zone.
The Government had in the last order allowed public transport to operate on full capacity basis lifting the earlier restriction of carrying 50 percent passengers only.
The Government had asked all District Magistrates to keep focus on positivity rate of closed clustered spaces like public/private offices; Malls, Bazaars etc and consider implementing staggered timing of operations in case weekly positivity rate goes beyond 10 percent in these spaces.
However, no Deputy Commissioner or any subordinate Magistrate will impose any local lockdown outside notified Containment Zones without prior consultations with the State Executive Committee. The SEC, if required, will convey its decision to the Magistrates after further consulting the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
As per the order issued by the previous Government, there will be no restrictions on entry of passengers, returnees or travelers coming to Jammu and Kashmir whether by road, rail or air but they will have to undergo compulsorily COVID-19 Antigen test as per protocol of the Government. The persons testing positive for the virus will have to follow COVID management protocol.
Movement of individuals for all non-essential activities will remain restricted between 10 pm to 5 am as was the case earlier. The Government has empowered the Magistrates to issue specific prohibitory orders in this regard under Section 144 of CrPC.
A day before, the Union Ministry had also extended the instructions/guidelines related to COVID management till January 31.
While COVID cases and fatalities in Jammu and Kashmir have shown decline during past about a fortnight, the threat of new COVID Mutation Strain originating from the United Kingdom has raised fresh alarm. Though 40 persons have returned from the UK to Jammu and Kashmir, only two have been tested positive for COVID-19 in Jammu. Sample of one of them has been sent to NCDC New Delhi for testing for new mutation.
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