J&K BORDERS SEALED

Rs. 40 cr released to DCs to fight corona spread; JK increasing isolation & quarantine facilities; All surgeries postponed at GMCH

24/03/2020

Bank timings from 10 AM to 2 PM till March 31; 4329 persons under observation; JKSSB postpones interviews

Jammu, Mar 23: Upping the ante in its fight against the Covid-19 spread, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday ordered sealing of its entire interstate borders with Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Ladakh.
It also ordered release of an additional Rs 40 crore to all deputy commissioners to support their corona-mitigation efforts besides two months' advance ration to eligible consumers.
The decisions were taken at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam, an official spokesman said. The meeting was chaired by Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam.
Principal Secretary, Home, Shaleen Kabra; Principal Secretary, Housing & Urban Develop-ment, Dheeraj Gupta; Principal Secretary, Planning & Development & Information, RohitKansal; Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, SanjeevVerma; Inspector General, Jammu zone Mukesh Singh; Secretary, PDD, M Raju; Secretary, DMRR, Simrandeep Singh and other senior officers were present in the meeting. Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, P. K. Pole; IGP, Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar and senior officers of Kashmir province attended the meeting through video conferencing.
The meeting also decided to release Rs One crore to the Jal Shakti (PHE) Department to augment drinking water supply in the Jammu and Kashmir. The Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations, it was decided, would also be released additional Rs. 50 lakh each to augment their sanitation efforts. Other Municipal Committees of the J&K would also be released additional funds accordingly, it was also decided.
In another significant decision, it was decided that interstate borders with Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh UT would be fully sealed. Similarly inter district movement of vehicles would also be restricted as per requirement. However, all essential vehicles would ply normally and the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway would also be regulated.
Taking a very serious note of reports of some travellors skipping screening and self-declaration at arrival points or falsifying any information regarding their travel, the Chief Secretary directed strict checking at entry points of Qazigund and Lower Munda besides at other entry points, airports and bus stands. Action, he said, should be initiated against those putting others at risk.
The meeting also decided that advance ration for two months viz. April and May would be issued to all eligible consumers. Besides, one month's ration for Mid-Day Meals would also be given in advance to all parents of eligible children.
The Chief Secretary also directed to keep all treasuries in Jammu & Kashmir open to facilitate drawal of bills in view of the closure of financial year.
The Department of Information and Public Relations, meanwhile in a tweet, said three senior IAS officers have been attached to the Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Department to assist officials in their coronavirus mitigation efforts. The officers, attached to the H&ME Department included Food and Civil Supplies Secretary Simrandeep Singh, Jammu DISCOM's Managing Director YashaMudgal and Kashmir DISCOM MD AijazAsad.
Mr Simrandeep Singh (Secy, FCS), Ms Yasha Mudgal (MD, DISCOM, Jammu) and MrAijaz (MD,DISCOM, Kmr) are attached to HME Dept, in addition to their existing duties, to assist in coronavirus mitigation efforts. They will perform duties assigned to them by FC (Financial Commissioner), H&M, the department wrote on its official Twitter handle.
However, in pursuant to existing COVID-19 situation and to prevent the spread of Corona Virus (COVID-19) and in order to curtail the flow of attendants and patients, all the Elective Surgeries at GMCH & Associated Hospitals shall postponed till further orders.
Police personnel, wearing masks, were deployed in strength across Jammu region on Monday to enforce a lockdown to counter the spread of novel coronavirus in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The shutdown came into effect from 8 pm on Sunday and will remain in force till 6 pm on March 31 with only people associated with 16 essential services, including healthcare, exempted from the restrictions.
Many roads in the city and elsewhere were blocked by barbed wire to restrict the movement of the people as policemen went around localities in their vehicles fitted with public address system, warning the residents of strict action if they try to violate CrPC Section 144 that has been promulgated across the region.
"Please cooperate with the administration and stay back at your homes...strict action will be taken against anyone violating the orders by venturing out unnecessarily," a policeman in one of the vehicles was heard saying.
Jammu and Kashmir has recorded four positive cases of coronavirus three in Jammu and one in Kashmir forcing the administration to take various harsh steps, including closure of educational institutions, business establishments and public transport over the past two weeks to counter the threat.
Barring shops dealing with essential items such as groceries and medicines, the markets remained closed in Jammu and elsewhere, officials said, adding the traffic on 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country was also restricted to vehicles carrying essential commodities only.
"There will be movement of only essential commodities vehicles on the highway from Srinagar towards Jammu for Monday," a traffic department announcement said.
Meanwhile, the government has issued an advisory to all the private establishments for non-termination of employees and workers from the job or reduce their wages in view of the virus outbreak. Administration is drawing a comprehensive plan to deal with the coronavirus outbreak by increasing isolation and quarantine facilities across the union territory, an official spokesperson said on Monday.
It has also decided to close routine activities in identified hospitals and converting others into isolation and quarantine facilities to face any eventuality, he said.
The spokesperson said the decision to this effect was taken at a meeting, chaired by the Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, AtalDulloo here, to review the advance preparedness to meet the challenge posed by COVID-19.
During the meeting, he said several decisions with regard to making infrastructure available for isolation and quarantine setups and mobilising the human resources for their effective functioning were taken. It was decided in the meeting that the number of isolation beds and quarantine facilities at the hospitals is being increased to stay prepared incase of any eventuality, the spokesperson said.
Elaborating on its advance preparedness, he said it was decided to dedicate the Government Hospital Gandhi Nagar Jammu entirely, including newly-constructed 200-bedded block, to suspected cases of COVID-19.
It has also been decided that the GB Pant hospital, Satwari, Jammu would be made functional for isolation facilities while Psychiatric Hospital Jammu will also be converted into isolation ward and its patients shifted to CD Hospital, Jammu.
Stepping up its preparations in the Kashmir division, apart from isolation facilities in its various hospitals, the government has decided to convert SKIMS the Medical College, Bemina, Srinagar, C D Hospital Srinagar, JLNM Hospital, Srinagar and Police Hospital, Srinagar entirely for isolation purposes, the spokesperson said.
He said the newly-constructed IPD blocks in the district hospitals of Ganderbal, Pulwama, Shopian and Kupwara would be used for stepping up isolation beds.
Dulloo directed officials to mobilise the human resource and the necessary equipment in order to make these isolation facilities fully functional and also directed that a duty roster of specialists and doctors should be prepared for the effective functioning of the isolation facilities.
In the light of IBA decision, the Deputy Commissioner, Jammu has instructed all Banks/Branches operating in Jammu District to observe working hours from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. from March 24 to March 31, 2020 for undertaking essential activities, to curtail the spread of COVID-19 i.e. cash deposits & withdrawals, clearing of cheques, remittances and Government transactions
The member Banks are also instructed to call staff members (Wherever feasible) on rotation basis and ensure strictly that the ATMS are disinfected/sanitized regularly.
Meanwhile District Police Samba under the territorial jurisdiction of P/S Samba & Bari Brahmana has registered 6 FIRs against the owners of various factories and shopkeepers in different incidents.
At PS Samba following FIRs registered:
1. FIR No. 74/2020 U/S 188 IPC against the owner of 02 factories Ulstran and Osaka Alloys and Steel Pvt. Limited situated in Phase-II SIDCO Samba.
2. FIR No. 77/2020 U/S 188 IPC against the owner of General Package situated in Phase-I SIDCO Samba.
3. FIR No. 78/2020 U/S 188 IPC against the owner of shops Attri Traders at Maheshwar Samba, Krishan Traders situated at Diani, Today Pickle situated near hospital Samba and Bittu Electric work near SanjhaChullha Samba.
Similarly acting on reliable information regarding violation of prohibitory orders, following 03 FIRs were registered at P/S Bari-Brahmana against the owner of different Factories situated at SIDCO Bari-Barhmana
1. FIR No 56/2020 U/s 188 IPC against M/s Vardaman Enterusion Pvt. Ltd.
2) FIR No 57/2020 U/s 188 IPC against M/s Pencil Factory Domes Industries Pvt. Ltd.
3) FIR No 58/2020 U/s 188 IPC against M/s Uflex Unit - I Pvt. Ltd. in Police Station Bari Brahmana.
Administration however, said 4,329 travellers and persons in contact with suspected cases have been put under observation and four people have tested positive for coronavirus so far in the Union Territory.
According to the daily media bulletin on novel coronavirus (COVID-19), 2,916 people have been kept under home quarantine while as many as 50 have been kept in isolation at hospitals. A total of 878 people are under home observation while 485 have completed their 28-day surveillance period, it said. The bulletin said 256 samples have been sent for testing of which 231 tested negative and there are only four confirmed cases so far, while 21 reports are awaited till date.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board has postponed all the scheduled interviews till further orders for the post of Junior Assistant (Rural Development Department), District Cadre Kulgam advertised vide, Advt. Notification No. 04 of 2015 Item No. 125 and "Jr Assistant" (Education Department/ Revenue Department), District cadre Kathua, advertised vide advt. no. 04 0f 2015, item no. 143.
The revised dates for conduct of interviews for the said posts shall be notified later on.
The Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board has also postponed document verification for the posts of Junior Stenographer, (Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution Deptt), Div Kashmir, Item No 44, Advt No 01 of 2014; Junior Stenographer, (Law Department), District Cadre Budgam, Item No 179, Advt No 01 of 2014; Junior Stenographer, (Law Department) District Cadre Udhampur, Item No 264, Advt No 01 of 2014; Junior Stenographer, (Law Department), State Cadre, Item No 273 Advt No 03 of 2014; Junior Stenographer (General Administration Department), State Cadre, Item No 268 Advt No 03 of 2014 and Junior Stenographer, (General Administration Department/Technical Education/YSS Department/labour & Employment), State Cadre, Item No 003, Advt No 01 of 2016.
The revised dates for conduct of Document Verification for the said posts shall be notified later on. In order to ensure smooth implementation of social distancing in Udhampur Town amongst the public involved in buying/ purchasing essential commodities and to avoid unwanted roaming, the District Magistrate Udhampur, Dr Piyush Singla has imposed various restrictions w.e.f March 24, 2020.
The major restrictions include all kind of essential commodities/services shops/business establishments like Grocery (Retailers, Wholesalers, Distributors) Dairy, Fruits, Vegetables, Chemists etc shall be allowed to operate from 7AM-10 AM and 5PM-7PM in Udhampur town while Karyana shops not ensuring home delivery shall be closed and business units are asked to ensure that there shall be no crowding outside the shop and all Bank branches shall remain open for public between 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM. All stakeholders are asked to follow the instructions in letter and spirit, strict action will be taken against the defaulters.

Photo Gallery

BSE Sensex

NSE Nifty