'Uninvited arrivals' will be put under 21-day quarantine: JK admn

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday said if people who are stranded outside the union territory return without informing the authorities, they will be kept under a 21-day quarantine instead of the usual two weeks.

The administration asked people to wait for it to prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) in this regard and follow that.

This comes a day after the Centre allowed migrant workers, tourists, students and other people stranded in different parts of the country due to the ongoing lockdown to move to their respective destinations with certain conditions.

Listing the conditions, the Union Home Ministry said all states and union territories should designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons.

"It is very important. We ask (people) to wait for the SOP. Uninvited arrivals will be put under 21 days' (administrative) quarantine and others will be sent to home quarantine. Waiting is advisable," Ajeet Sahu, Jal Shakti Department commissioner secretary, told PTI.

Sahu, who also oversees the management of inter-state border terminal for passage of people and vehicles at Kathua, asked the people to strictly follow the guidelines.

In its order on Wednesday, the Home Ministry had said the nodal authorities shall register the stranded persons within their states and union territories.

In case a group of stranded persons wishes to move between one state and union territory and another state and union territory, the sending and receiving states may consult each other and mutually agree to the movement by road, it had said.

The states and union territories falling on the bus transit route will allow the passage of such persons to the receiving states and union territories, it had said.

The moving persons would be screened and those found asymptomatic would be allowed to proceed, according to the Home Ministry.