Investigation on, accused to be booked under stringent sections: CS told

Jammu: Chief Secretary, Dr.Arun Kumar Mehta today chaired a high level meeting to review the progress made in nabbing the culprits involved in the case involving alleged adoption and sale of Covid orphans in Pampore recently.

He also considered the administrative measures being taken by the Social Welfare Department and the law enforcement agencies to prevent occurrence of such incidents in future.

Administrative Secretary, Home, Special Director General, CID, Administrative Secretaries of Social Welfare and Law Departments, two Divisional commissioners and DIG, Central Kashmir Range and other senior officers attended the meeting.

While informing that two persons have been arrested, DIG, CKR, informed that the investigation under a DSP ranked officer is going on and it is expected that in about weeks time, the department will be able to get to the bottom of the case.

He further informed that the case is under review and given the gravity of the case, more stringent sections of the law will be imposed on the accused going forward before the case reaches the trial stage.

The Chief Secretary stated that the trafficking of children and women is an inhuman practice and is absolutely unacceptable. There should be zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and forced labour and added that the government will pull out all stops in ridding the UT of this menace.

He further stated that human trafficking almost always has a narco/drug dimension, which has been seen to have linkages with terrorism in the UT.

Expressing his concern at the incident, Dr Mehta directed that joint teams of social welfare education department, Magistrates from DC office and police be set up to verify the records of nari ashrams, bal ashrams, concerned NGOs and trust and orphanages and asked the social welfare department to coordinate the synergised departmental response in the matter.

Secretary, social welfare department informed that the matter has been taken up with IGP, Kashmir to ensure immediate legal action under the relvant laws.

It was further informed that child welfare committees have been asked to meet covid orphans identified by the department and submit a report to the department.

Dr Mehta directed social welfare department to conduct audit of the human resource and the accounts of these centres for the last 5 years.

He asked the social welfare department to obtain the report regarding the welfare of covid orphans from the field and share it with his office by Thursday evening.

The Chief Secretary asked Home department to ensure that every such centre was inspected by the nearest police station in the UT and a report shared by them with the Home department by evening.

Giving details of the NGOs dealing with child and women welfare in the UT, Director I&C, Jammu informed that there are around 6000 such NGOs registered in J&K.

It was further informed that post reorganisation of the J&K State into UTs of J&K and Ladakh, the department has begun the process of re-registering these societies under the central act.

So far less than 1000 societies have been re-registered and their details are also available on Darpan portal.

Dr Mehta also advised the I&C department to share the list of all NGOs operating in the space with SWD and police department.

He also directed that the SWD should get the verification of 6000 NGOs done in concert with district administration and PRIs within a month and shared the findings with the government.

The Chief Secretary asked the I&C department to put all those NGOs, which have not re-registered, on notice stating that if they do not re-register within 15 days,  they will no longer be allowed to operate.

He also directed I&C department to share the details of those NGOs, which don’t re-register, with the district and divisional administration so that appropriate law enforcement action is initiated against them.

The Chief Secretary asked the SWD to take steps in consultation with health department to verify all the children hospitals/gynecological sections/ neonatal sections of the hospitals in the UT within next fifteen days.

Dr Mehta directed Law department to seek details of the trusts operating in the space for the last 10 years from the judiciary for purpose of their verification.

The Chief Secretary laid emphasis on tracking cases of child/women trafficking in the cyber domain and asked the Home department to ensure proper cyber surveillance though anti trafficking units of the police department in both the divisions.

Stating that begging and trafficking syndicates can’t be allowed to have a free run in J&K, he directed to maintain special watch on placement agencies, organisations scouting young girls and boys for talent hunt programmes, beauty pageants, escort services etc. so that incidents of child and women trafficking do not happen in future.

Srinagar: Amid the fear of the Omicron variant, Jammu and Kashmir government announced on Thursday that it has decided to impose a fine of Rs 20,000 and take action as per the law if anyone is found hiding their international travel history from the last two weeks at Srinagar airport.

This was decided during a recent meeting which was chaired by Kashmir’s Divisional Commissioner Pandurang K Pole and attended by senior district and health officers of Srinagar and Budgam.

As per the minutes of the meeting, it was decided that all international travelers (including those domestic travelers who have a history of international travel during the past two weeks) shall be subjected to RT-PCR test upon their arrival at Srinagar Airport.

“Any travelers found hiding their international travel history shall be liable for punishment as per the laws and a fine of Rs 20,000 shall be imposed on him or her,” it said.

As per the new directions, all these travelers would be sent to administrative quarantine.

“After collection of sample for RT-PCR test all these travelers shall be sent to administrative quarantine either Government (free) or private (paid) as per their choice till their reports are available and if found positive, the same shall be sent for Genome sequencing promptly; the patient shall be admitted in a separate ward at DRDO Hospital, Khanmoh, Srinagar and treated as per the standard protocol,” it said

“If the reports come out negative, they shall be put in home quarantine or hotel quarantine (in the case of tourists) for seven days, during which they shall be monitored by the respective chief medical officers. If any symptoms are observed during this period, they shall be immediately tested again otherwise they shall be re-tested on the day through RTPCR and if found negative, they shall self monitor their health for the next seven days. If their second RT-PCR test comes out positive the person shall be immediately shifted to DRDO hospital  Khonmoh Srinagar and his/ her sample sent for Genome sequencing,” it added.

The Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir also directed Director Srinagar International airport to ensure the establishment of a Private Rapid RT-PCR testing facility for the convenience of travelers who may be willing to get themselves tested through it.

Pole also instructed Deputy Commissioner Budgam to engage SRTC buses and private vehicles for ferrying of international travelers from the airport to the administration’s quarantine facilities.

The Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir instructed for the constitution of special surveillance teams of chief medical officers to ensure that the international travelers strictly observe home quarantine for one week.

The samples of those found positive for COVID-19 and with intentional travel history shall be sent for Whole Genome Sequencing on a fast track basis, the Divisional Commissioner said. (UNI)

New Delhi: Two individuals in India have been detected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Karnataka, Union Health Ministry informed in a press briefing on Thursday.

The individual, both male, aged 66 and 46 have recently travelled to South Africa where the majority of the cases for the new variant have been reported, sources said.

However, the symptoms of both the cases are mild in nature so far, it added.

The Union Health Ministry further informed that all primary, secondary and tertiary contacts of the reported Omicron cases are being traced.

“The network of INSACOG labs are analysing the samples of the travellers from ‘at-risk’ countries who are found positive with the COVID-19. These two cases were found carrying Omicron variant during the genome sequencing of their samples,” National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director Sujit K Singh said while interacting with media.

Meanwhile, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) informed via a statement that the 66-year-old man who have been confirmed infected via the Omicron was fully vaccinated.

The municipal body of Bengaluru also said that contacts of the 44-year-old case have tested positive and the samples have been sent for genome sequencing.

“One of the two patients is a 66-year-old male while the other is a 46-year-old male. The former had returned from South Africa and was fully vaccinated,” according to BBMP.

“Three primary contacts and two secondary contacts of the 46-year-old male tested positive between 22nd and 25th November. All are isolated. Their samples have been sent for genome sequencing, results are awaited,” it informed.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry maintained that the cases of Omicron, reported across 29 nations have been found exhibiting “mild symptoms”.

The Union Ministry urged for greater caution and stated that there is no need for panic as long as rigorous public health measures are followed.

“29 countries have reported 273 cases of Omicron with the highest concentration in South Africa. However, all the cases are suffering from the mild nature of COVID-19 disease,” Joint Health Secretary Luv Agarwal said.

Agarwal also said that Testing and treatment protocols remain unchanged for Omicron.

“Masking, vaccination and rigorous public health measures are still effective against the new variant. Testing and treatment protocols remain unchanged for Omicron. Efficacy of vaccines against the new variant is being studied as more evidence emerges,” he said.

However, the ministry still cautioned the public since the available evidence from the affected regions by Omicron suggest that the new variant could be the most transmissible variant of Coronavirus detected so far.

“According to genomic modelling, it is being said that Omicron could be 5 times more infectious than the original strain of SARS-CoV-2. More evidence is needed to ascertain transmissibility and severity of Omicron variant,” said Agarwal citing observations from WHO. (UNI)

New Delhi: External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday said India so far has not imposed any travel bans from any specific countries.

Asked about the concerns around the Omicron variant, and whether India plans to put in place any aviation curb, Bagchi said, “Omicron is an evolving situation… two cases have been confirmed in Karnataka”.

Referring to putting 11 countries, including all European countries and UK, in the “at risk” category, the Spokesperson said, “this is a technical decision, I would say, based on facts and evidence by our health regulatory authorities. This list existed prior to Omicron.”

“This is based on the incidence profile of Covid 19 in those countries and it changes based on what happens on the ground,” he said.

“I am not aware of any particular country having raised the fact is they are on list or not… We don’t have travel curbs as such, some countries have stopped flights from that region, we haven’t done that. We have instead intensified surveillance mechanism and protocol for those who happen to come from at risk countries, who have to undertake on arrival RTPCR test etc, and undergo home quarantine. I would refer to health ministry guidelines… This is not flight curbs,” Bagchi said.

Commenting on the two cases detected in India, the Spokesperson said, “I don’t think the presence of two cases, who have already been quarantined, who are being specially monitored, the impression that Omicron is present in India is wrong. They are two people, they have been isolated”.

I won’t like to speculate how the world looks at it, I certainly think there are many countries where similar cases have been found, we have not imposed any travel restriction,” said Bagchi.

Two cases of Omicron have been reported in Karnataka, both patients are male, of the age 66 and 46 years, government has said. (UNI)