High level meeting under Chairmanship of Chief Secretary held to review various measures taken by Administration to prevent spread of COVID-19 in Isles

Port Blair, March 17: A high level meeting was held under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to review various measures taken by the Administration to prevent spread of COVID-19 in A & N Islands. The meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary (Health), PCCF, DGP, Principal Secretary (Fin/DM & RR) along with other senior officers of the Administration. After discussion, the following additional directions have been issued to contain effectively the spread of COVID-19:

1. All passengers shall be medically screened before boarding in helicopters.
2. All Government offices/establishments including Secretariat should be sanitized regularly.
3. All people should discuss/solve their grievances on telephone instead of visiting office personally.
4. The Health Department should create awareness on social distancing among the people in crowd prone areas/places to prevent spread of virus through coughing and sneezing droplets.
5. The tour operators/hoteliers shall consider sympathetically to refund amount against cancellation of hotel booking by tourists.
6. The Administration will take up the matter with representatives of airlines to ensure that all tourists may be refunded against cancellation of their booking as per advisory of DGCA.
7. The Shipping and Transport Department shall implement the norms of carrying passenger 50% of their capacity effectively.
8. The 50% carrying capacity norms shall also be applicable to all four wheelers i.e. jeep, taxi etc. carrying passenger on commercial basis.
9. The payment of current electricity and water bill may be made with next billing cycle without late fee surcharge.
10. Religious gathering at Temple, Mosque, Church, Gurudwara etc. should be minimized to the barest and the norms of 01 (One) meter distance should be followed strictly.
11. All banks in the Islands are advised to advance the working hours by 02 (Two) hours in morning to reduce the crowd in the bank counters. The banks are also advised to sanitize all ATM facilities periodically. The general public have been advised to use digital payments and visit bank for urgent/important transactions.
12. 100 % sanitization of cargo crews/personnel/labourers before and after unloading/loading of cargos.
13. Sanitization of passenger ships/ferries/buses daily.
14. Public should remain in houses and not to roam without any purpose in the city.
15. No Tribal Passes for Southern Groups of Islands except for official travel/work.
16. Allotment of Govt. Guest Houses by Protocol Department has been suspended till 26.03.2020.
17. Revenue and Cooperative Cases may be dealt in accordance with Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta Notification No. 1355-RG dated 15.03.2020.
18. The public counters dealing with all functions related to registration of Motor Vehicles, permits and Driving Licenses in Transport Department are suspended from 18.03.2020 to 15.04.2020.
19. The issuance/renewal of license of fishing boats for the year 2020-21 shall remain suspended till 15.04.2020.
20. Fisherman, fish vendors and other stakeholders are advised to avoid large gatherings at fish landing Centres, landing points, fish markets, ice plants cold storages etc.