Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Health Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas on Sunday said special trains were being pressed into service to bring home around 2 lakh people stranded in 14 States due to the lockdown.
Nine trains were kept ready for the purpose, Mr. Srinivas told the media here.
Stating that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had made it clear that migrant workers should be the first priority, the Minister said the people brought in these trains would be directly shifted to the quarantine centres.
Apart from the existing quarantine centres, special centres were being established to accommodate the migrant workers. Each village secretariat would have quarantine centres with 1 lakh beds and other basic amenities amidst hygienic conditions to accommodate the workers, he said.
The State had been receiving requests from other governments seeking safe passage of their 12,794 workers held up here, and the government was making arrangements for it, Mr. Srinivas said.
Mobile bazaars
In the red zones, 500 APSRTC buses, converted into mobile bazaars, would deliver milk, vegetables and other essential commodities to the residents. Besides, a doctor, an ASHA worker and an ANM would be deployed in each of the red zone to cater to the medical needs of the residents. Wherever the virus was rampant, only one member from a family would be given a pass, he clarified.
The Minister said the government was keen on strengthening the telemedicine system, and as part of it, steps would be initiated to ensure adequate stocks of medicines in all the Primary Health Centres. Medicines would be delivered within 24 hours of giving the prescription, he said.
The Minister said that the number of COVID-19 positive cases had shown a declining trend in the last four days, and attributed it to “improved testing.”
“Andhra Pradesh is in the forefront in testing in the country,” he claimed.
Online application
COVID-19 Task Force Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu said an online application was uploaded on the website – spandana.ap.gov.in – to enable people to register their grievance with details.
“It has two categories – one for people who want to move out of the State and second for those who are stranded outside the State and want to return home. He said that the state.apcovid19controlroom@gmail.com had received nearly 24,000 mails, but many of them did not have proper details. “This is pandemic time and we need to make sure that people are sent in an organised way and also brought in the same way,” he said.
