Coronavirus: Gujarat HC notice to health, legal depts to check spread; PM defers visit

To ensure safety in courts, the HC directed the state government to provide “temperature guns” at the security check to check the temperature of those entering the court premises. If anyone is found with body temperature above normal, further investigation will be carried out. The HC also directed the state government to sanitise the court premises on daily basis.

The respondents are expected to file an affidavit within a week by March 20 with a status update on the situation pursuant to the court’s directions.

Advocate Hardik Brahmbhatt, general secretary of Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHAA), added that the association had already installed hand sanitisers in 10 spots on the HC premises.

PM’s visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was scheduled to visit Gujarat from March 21 to 22, has put off the visit on account of COVID-19 threat. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel who also holds the health portfolio in the state, announced that the visit of Prime Minister to the state for two days has been deferred. “Taking note of all advisories, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s programme in the state on March 21 and 22 has been postponed,” Patel said. PM Modi was expected to inaugurate the tourist jetty service at the Statue of Unity, Kevadia. Visits to Ahmedabad and Vadodara were also on his itinerary.

Prisons

The state government received an advisory from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with guidelines for prisons on containing the virus outbreak. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) prisons in Gujarat, KLN Rao, said, “It has been advised that the accused be produced in courts through video-conferencing. New inmates will be screened and medical facilities will be put in place within the prisons. Foreign (new) prisoners will be screened and kept separately. We have been also advised to follow general cleanliness and hygiene….” There are nearly 17,000 inmates in jails across the state.

Educational institutions

A day after the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) cancelled its annual convocation scheduled on March 21, MICA, Ahmedabad, postponed its convocation scheduled to be held on March 28. “The situation will be reviewed after April 15,” a communication from MICA stated.

Udgam School for Children and Zebar School for Children have extended its annual break. “The best prevention of coronavirus seems to be social distancing… We closed on February 6 as per our annual schedule after the annual exams got over. But we will not be able to start by March 30, as scheduled,” said Manan Choksi, executive director of Udgam School for Children.

Indian Institue of Technology Gandhinagar is minimising visitors to the campus and has extended its mid-semester recess by two weeks till March 29. Workshops and lecture series planned for March and April too have been postponed, according to the IITGn communication cell. A five-member task force has been constituted and a set of quarantine residencies to house the affected persons has been readied.

The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) has instructed his staff to stop using biometric from March 6. “If any advisory comes to shut down the institute, we have advised the faculty to be ready with learning material to share with students online,” said Arindam Das, director of NIFT.

The Central University of Gujarat has constituted a four-member committee and has instructed staff and students who visited COVID-19 affected nations recently to report before the committee.

Industries

The textile and diamond industries in Surat that employ a huge number of migrant workforce is taking extra measures to fight the threat of COVID-19. The Hare Krishna Diamond firm, which has around 8,000 employees working at one place, has distributed masks to their employees and their family members.

Firm owner Savji Dholakia’s personal assistant, Naresh Miyani, told this paper, “Diamond artisans have been told to clean their hands before and after work with sanitiser kept at all washrooms in the factory.” Masks have been kept at the factory entrance for even visitors.

Surat, also a textile hub, has over 150 textile markets with around 65,000 trading shops. The Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA) president Manoj Agrawal said, “We have advised textile traders to put on masks while at shops and regularly wash hands. Many of them who are from other states that have reported positive cases of coronavirus have postponed plans to visit their native places. Even the footfall of customers from other states in the textile markets has also gone down.”

South Gujarat Textile Pro-cessing Association president, Jitu Vakhariya, said, “Here in textile dying and printing factories, nobody wears mask as the temperature inside the factory is high.”

Western Rly gears up with masks, disinfectants as ticket bookings drop

In the wake of increasing scare of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in the country, the Western Railways has geared up to check the spread with sensitisation campaigns, creation of isolation wards, disinfectant spraying in railway premises and providing safety gear to all staff.

According to Western Railway officials, due to coronavirus scare, they have witnessed a 10-15% drop in ticket bookings in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Western Railway runs 939 trains (mail/express and passenger) connecting 510 railway stations across six divisions in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Around one lakh staff are employed with the Western Railway and on an average, 43.95 lakh passengers use the network every day.

“We have witnessed 10-15% drop in ticket bookings in the past one week due to Coronavirus. Western Railways is well equipped and have made sure that all our cleaning staff, loco drivers, travel ticket examiners (TTE) and other officials present on the railway premises in Gujarat and Maharashtra are equipped with safety gear, including masks, disinfectants and gloves. We are also ensuring that all train doors, bathroom knobs, railings, handles and other objects that are constantly touched by the passengers are sprayed with disinfectants regularly,” said Ravindra Bhakar, spokesperson, Western Railways.

It has also made arrangements for isolation wards in their hospitals in case of admission of any COVID-19 suspect patient. “We have a total of 7 hospitals in all six divisions of the Western Railways and in each hospital, a separate isolation ward has been set up to quarantine suspected patients. Till now, we have had only one suspected patient who came to one of our hospitals in Maharashtra and his test reports turned out to be negative. In Ahmedabad, there are eight beds at the Sabarmati Hospital’s isolation ward of the Ahmedabad zone of Western Railways,” said Bhakar.

The challenge for Western Railways to maintain a clean and hygienic environment will be difficult as according to the last year’s Swachhta (cleanliness) rankings released by the Indian Railways, Western Railways ranking dropped by 5 slots compared to its score in 2018 out of the 16 zones across India. Ahmedabad Railway station ranked at 202 out of 720 stations, Vadodara station at 90, Jamnagar at 103, Gandhidham at 110, Surat at 16 and Udhna railway station at 16.

“I believed that airports are much vulnerable given people travel overseas and come back. However, given the poor condition of railway stations in India, even here is not safe and one must follow personal hygiene and safety measures even while travelling in trains,” said Uddhav Bhatt, an Ahmedabad-based resident at Kalupur railway station.

The Western Railway officials said that the passengers are being sensitised through video as well as audio broadcast on the railway premises. “Apart from posters of Dos and Don’ts, we have also arranged for broadcast for public safety messages on coronavirus through LED screens at railway premises and audio messages are also being broadcast from time to time,” said an official of Ahmedabad division.