The Jammu & Kashmir Government has launched a web portal -- http://jkmonitoring.nic.in/ to facilitate its residents stranded in other parts of the country. The portal enables giving updates to those registered and also allows a person to check his application status. The portal has been developed in a very short time frame by the NIC, J&K. All those who have registered online using the links opened by the J&K Government earlier NEED NOT register again. The web portal has already been updated with the details of the persons who have already registered through www.jktpo.in. All those who have registered can track the progress of their application.While a large number of persons from nearby States have returned to J&K, there are many who are queued up for undertaking train journey. Arrangements are being made for trains from various stations across the country. Trains from different states and their cities - like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam (for entire NE), Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan and many places in Uttar Pradesh are being planned over the next few days. More than one train is being scheduled from one station if the number of stranded persons is large, eg; Delhi, Bengaluru, Thane/ Mumbai, etc. As and when a person’s turn comes to board the train, he/she shall be notified by way of SMS which will have the details of train timings, departure station, etc. Everyone will get accommodated and therefore there is no need to panic.
In addition to the web portal, in order to assist the returnees and address their concerns, a dedicated 24X7 Covid-19 Helpline number - 0191-2466988 has been activated – they can obtain information of arrangements made for their movement and also get any other information.In order to have regulated arrival to enable testing and to control the spread of COVID -19, the portal allows the government to issue authorization for travel to individuals/groups as per the capacity. On approval of movement by the competent authority, i.e. the Nodal Officer, a SMS goes to the stranded person informing him of such authorization. This authorization is the consent of the Government of J&K to receive that person. This authorization can be downloaded or it can be kept in the electronic form on the mobile and has to be shown to the concerned District Magistrate for issuance of movement pass as per the SOP of the MHA in case of road journey. Such authorization, through the portal, has been given to all the stranded persons in Gujarat and Rajasthan in the past few hours. However, for those persons in these two states who want to take a train for return, coordination with the sending State and the Railways is under way.If the returnee is part of a group, the registration of only the Group Head has been updated on the portal – this is sufficient for grant of authorization or notifying for train journey through the group head, enabling the entire group to travel as and when the arrangements are in place. The portal provides for editing and adding information of the group by uploading the list of group members.The portal has received more than 2156 plus hits in a span of two hours – almost 50% are for downloading the authorization by the Government of J&K. With the arrival of two trains – one each from Karnataka and Goa – the process has begun. Another Shramik Special train is scheduled to arrive from Delhi tomorrow morning, followed by second one from Goa in the evening.