Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar (Chairman, District Disaster Management Authority) launched the capacity building and training of staff drawn from restaurants across city for imparting COVID prevention protocols and mandatory measures to be put in place.It is pertinent to mention that home delivery of restaurants was permissible in Red Zone districts however in view of prevailing situation the District Disaster Management Authority rather initiated capacity building and training of service delivery staff before permitting operation of restaurants. Training certificate for the management and staff, and COVID test has been made mandatory as per the protocol developed by DDMA in collaboration with Department of Community Medicine, Govt Medical College, Srinagar.DC Srinagar said that capacity building of all the service delivery sector has been underway for last two weeks to ensure that persons involved in the delivery of goods and services are trained for mandatory precautions to avoid COVID spread, which however should not be construed as lifting of lockdown which has to be a gradual and graded process in due course of time. He sought public cooperation for minimising public gatherings, mandatory use of masks, maintaining physical distance, hygiene protocols and staying at home as far as practicable.
Dr Shahid said that the wide ranging interactions with all stakeholders like trade and business community, public health experts, service delivery sectors and religious heads are aimed at preparing the community for precautions and preventive measures required to contain COVID. He impressed upon the staff to religiously adhere to the guidelines imparted during training and SOPs developed for operation of restaurant services for delivery of food.More than 300 personnel from restaurant sector were also tested fro COVID and training certificates were provided to individual unit holders. The President and Vice-President of Restaurant Association, Srinagar thanked the administration for proactive measures aimed at capacity building and training, and assured to adopt the mandatory protocols for safety.It is pertinent to mention here that DDMA Srinagar has trained more than 2000 persons for COVID prevention, drawn from various sectors including vegetable vendors, meat sellers, bakers, wazas, shopkeepers, technicians and key field staff involved in delivery of essential services .ADC Sajjad Qadri, ADC Fayaz Ahmed Parra, Dr Rabbani Tariq and experts from community medicine held detailed discussion and presented a resume of guidelines contained in SOPs to be adopted by restaurants for home delivery or production system.