Cochin Port Equipped to Receive the Repatriates in Ships

KOCHI:
Arrangements as per the Government guidelines are in place at Cochin Port to facilitate the arrival of repatriates who are being evacuated by the Govt. of India. The first Navy ship with around 750 repatriates from Male, Maldives is expected to arrive Cochin Port on 10 th May 2020. Few more are
expected in the next few weeks.

Vijay Sakhare, IG of Police and Snehil Kumar Singh, Sub Collector, Fort Kochi visited the Samudrika Cruise Terminal today and reviewed the arrangements. They also held discussion with the officials from the District Administration, Police, Cochin Port Trust, CISF, Port Health Organisation, Immigration and the Indian Navy. Dr M Beena, Chairperson, Cochin Port Trust also reviewed the operational preparedness and infrastructural arrangements with senior port officials in order to ensure hassle free evacuation of repatriates through the port.

The disembarkation exercise, including the movement of passengers from the vessel to the Terminal area, will be carried out under the administrative control of the officer representing District Administration, Ernakulam and the Medical protocols as per the directions of the officer representing District Medical Authority. The onward transport of passengers to institutional quarantine centres will be coordinated by Regional Transport Officer.

Before arrival at Cochin, on board the vessel, the Navy will get the self e-declaration data filled by all passengers and also identify the passengers symptomatic of Covid 19. The symptomatic passengers will be disembarked first, followed by other passengers (district wise) in batches of 50
persons. Ambulance for transport of symptomatic passengers to quarantine centres will be arranged by District Medical Officer and District Administration. Separate zone has been earmarked for the symptomatic patients.

The passengers disembarked will undergo further statutory verifications for clearances inside the Samudrika Cruise Terminal where Port Health Organisation will verify the self declaration form, BSNL will issue SIM cards to the passengers. Passengers will install Arogyasetu app in their mobiles while inside the Terminal. District Administration and District Police will provide basic guidance to the passengers. This will be followed by immigration and Customs checks, baggage scanning etc.

The passengers once cleared by all statutory organisations will be transported to different districts in KSRTC buses (30 per bus) arranged by the Regional Transport Officer. Private vehicles with proper separations will be made available for certain category of passengers. Visitors and/ or
relatives/friends of the arriving passengers will not be permitted to the Samudrika Terminal area. The Police Department will maintain law and order during the disembarkation procedures at the Terminal.