Srinagar: The district administration in Srinagar on Wednesday said that the migrant workers would be allowed to enter the city after testing negative for COVID-19, and issued guidelines besides appointing a nodal officer for the regulated entry of non-local labourers into the capital city.
“It has been decided that Rapid Antigen Testing/RT-PCR (Real Time Polymerize Chain Reaction) shall be done on arrival in districts. The scheme has been notified keeping in view the large workforce of brick kilns. There are no brick kilns operating in Srinagar district, however labor for construction activities and infrastructure projects has been reported to be arriving in some cases,” an official spokesman said while underlining the need to have in place strict arrangements to ensure that all required protocols are followed to avoid spread of COVID-19.
He said the Department of Labour and Employment shall be Nodal department for ensuring end-to-end arrangements for incoming labour to ensure their regulated entry, compulsory COVID testing, distancing norms and SOPs at places of work and stay.
“Deputy Labour Commissioner shall personally oversee the arrangements and personally monitor the process. He shall be designated officer under the Disaster Management Act 2005, for the said purpose,” the spokesman said adding that Assistant Labour Commissioner, Srinagar shall remain stationed at Pantha-chowk to coordinate entry of labour and compulsory testing at designated camp and SOPs to be adopted at places of work and stay.
“Each worker/labourer shall be given a unique ID number by Labor department to ensure his tracking and surveillance, compulsorily indicating mobile number and other particulars. Any lapse in management shall be personal responsibility of concerned officers,” the spokesman said.
He said the Deputy Labor Commissioner/Asstt Labor Commissioner shall establish a control room at Pantha-chowk for overall coordination. The control room shall have representatives from all the departments deputed already at disposal of Tehsildar Pantha-chowk. They shall coordinate with Lakhanpur and JT teams and ensure that no entry is allowed beyond the manifest received.
Any case of illegal entry beyond the manifest shall be put under the category of mandatory paid quarantine at Pantah-chowk camp, spokesman said.
He said the guidelines vis-à-vis mandatory Rapid Antigen Testing/RT-PCR, unique ID for each person, wearing mask all the times, social distancing at places of stay and places of work, complete database of places of stay and work, contact numbers, address details of labor contractors, daily reporting on arrival, database of labour and installation of Aarogya Setu, shall be implemented without any relaxation, by Deputy/Asstt Labor Commissioner, and they shall be personally responsible in case any laborer/worker is found in city in violation of these.
Any vehicles found ferrying laborers without permission shall be seized, imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 and shall not be released till the cost of Rapid Antigens Testing/ RT-PCR and other logistics is recovered from owner of vehicleowner/contractor, the spokesman said.
He said the labour contractors shall be booked for any violation of norms at places of work or stay. “A fine of Rs 50,000 shall be imposed on contractor for violation of norms. All the costs including testing, logistics etc., shall be recovered from the contractor wherever unauthorized movement of labor is found,” spokesman said.
He said the Labor department shall communicate to all Tehsildars the details of places of work and places of stay of labor for strict monitoring and regular inspections.
He said this order and guidelines have been issued under the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act. Any violation shall be dealt under provisions of these laws, spokesman added.
