War room overhauled, mission intact

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two months after constituting the Covid-19 control room in the secretariat with a set of IAS officials, the government has changed the team.
The new team of IAS officers who will take over comprises Veena N Madhavan, CEO of additional skills acquisition programme, Amit Meena, director of Anert, N S K Umesh, executive director of Kerala state industrial development corporation, P K Jayasree, panchayats director, Sheeba George, social justice department director, C V Sajan, local self-government department deputy secretary, Varghese Panikker K T, controller of legal metrology and Vigneswari V, director of collegiate education.
The round-the-clock war room, which manages the field-level action for Covid-19 control activities, was set up on March 26, two days after the nation-wide lockdown was announced. The war room functions under the direct supervision of principal secretary, general administration department, K R Jyothilal. The war room team is assisted by a set of supporting staff drawn from police, motor vehicles, civil supplies, labour, local self-government, revenue and health departments. The war room directly deals with two main issues: the inter-state movement -- of transport vehicles carrying essential goods and articles, and persons.
Following the easing of lockdown restrictions, the focus of the war room has shifted solely to the movement of people, especially those arriving through the five checkposts, by special trains and flights.
The war room team is expected to ensures that only those who are allotted travel passes arrive from other states through checkposts and trains and that they undergo the mandatory one-week home quarantine. The war room updates the details of the flights and trains and informs the respective district collectors about the number of passengers who are arriving in their districts and also about the stops, if allotted, for the trains in their districts.