All trains to move non-stop, land at Udhampur only
UT breaks barrier of 3000 tests, mortality rate only 1.1%
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 7: Udhampur Railway Station has been chosen as Central point as Railways geared up to run non-stop special trains for J&K to evacuate thousands of stranded people from different parts of the country early next week even as the Union Territory today broke the barrier of 3000 tests a day by testing 3429 samples including around 1000 in Jammu alone.
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Kathua district today became Corona-free as its lone patient was tested negative twice and has been discharged from the Chest Diseases Hospital, Bakshi Nagar Jammu bringing down number of active cases to just 13 while no fresh COVID-19 case was reported from any part of Jammu region today, keeping the tally static at 68.
Deputy Commissioner Jammu Sushma Chauhan today declared Gurha Bakshi Nagar area falling under the jurisdiction of Bakshi Nagar police station as Containment Zone and restricted movement in and out of the locality. However, for any medical emergency, individuals can contact 24×7 control room at phone numbers 2571616 and 2571912. The decision was taken as four persons including three members of the family in Gurha have tested positive for COVID-19.
In a significant decision, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has decided to bring stranded passengers from distant areas by trains while others will be brought back in the buses.
Commissioner/Secretary Industries and Commerce Department Manoj K Dwivedi, who has been appointed Overall Incharge for management of stranded persons/returnees by train, told the Excelsior that the persons held up in New Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh will be brought by the buses while trains will be run from distant stations like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata and other such cities located in far-off Indian States.
“All trains will be run non-stop and land at Udhampur Railway Station, which has been made central point for those travelling from different States of the country. The trains enroute will not stop at any Railway Station including Jammu as boarding or de-boarding of even a single person enroute will defeat the purpose of keeping passengers and other people safe from Corona,” Dwivedi said.
He added that from Udhampur the people will be transported in buses to their respective district headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir.
It may be mentioned here that the issue of fare for return of stranded persons in the trains has already been settled by the Central Government with Government of India to pay 85 per cent of the fare and the States/Union Territories to bear rest of the cost of 15 percent which means the people returning to Jammu and Kashmir won’t have to pay anything.
Sources said the registration of the people will give the J&K Government complete data as to how many people have been stranded in which State and cities, based on which the trains would be run. As the process has been initiated, sources expressed confidence that the trains to bring stranded people back home in the Union Territory could start early next week.
The Government is committed to bring all stranded people back, they said, adding that since the distance to J&K from New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab is less, the people and Western Uttar Pradesh can travel by bus and trains will be used exclusively for distant States.
“Udhampur has been chosen as only Railway Station where all trains will land in Jammu and Kashmir as it has been a central place as far as the Railway Stations are concerned and will take Kashmir-bound people to different Valley districts from there as well as Jammu region,” sources said, adding quarantine mechanism is being worked out and will be released in the next few days.
Another order issued by the UT Government said Vasu Yadav, Managing Director J&K Forest Corporation and Abhijit Joshi, DFO Social Forestry Jammu will assist Dwivedi in management and movement of in-bound stranded persons at Udhampur.
It may be mentioned here that over 30,000 stranded people of Jammu and Kashmir have so far reached the Union Territory since April 25 from States like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and parts of Uttar Pradesh and the influx is still on.
Thousands of more people have registered themselves with Jammu and Kashmir Government Helplines seeking their return to the UT. They included students, private companies’ staff, workers, traders, students, travelers, tourists and patients who were stranded in different States due to lockdown.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir today, broke the barrier of 3000 tests a day for the first time since Coronavirus pandemic broke out by testing 3429 samples in a day.
This was announced by Government spokesman and Planning, Development and Monitoring Department Principal Secretary Rohit Kansal
“There are now 793 total Corona cases including 725 in Kashmir and 68 in Jammu,” Kansal said. He added that J&K has positivity rate of 2.1 percent and mortality rate of 1.13 per cent.
Around 1000 samples were tested alone in the Government Medical College Jammu under the supervision of HoD Microbiology Department Dr Shashi S Sudan besides the Command Hospital Udhampur and IIIM Jammu. The Government has also tied-up with private laboratory Lal Path for conducting tests and they have also been given samples.
Sources said all migrant workers and truck drivers are being tested at Lakhanpur in Kathua district, Thandi Khui in Samba and Tikri in Udhampur district for which mobile sample collection vans have been pressed into service
Meanwhile, only Corona positive case of Kathua district, a 45-year old truck conductor of Hiranagar, who had travel history to Mumbai, today tested negative twice and was discharged from the Chest Diseases Hospital, Medical Superintendent Dr Rajeshwar Sharma said.
With this, Jammu region now has just 13 Corona positive patients and all of them were admitted in the Chest Diseases Hospital in stable condition.
Jammu region’s tally remained static at 68 today as no fresh COVID-19 cases was reported during the day. Now, 54 patients have been treated successfully and discharged from the hospitals while there has been one death.
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