COVID-19 Alert: Odisha Govt Extends Time For Serving Food At Aahaar Centres

Bhubaneswar: Adhering to the health guidelines of the Odisha government for coronavirus, the Housing and Urban Development Department on Tuesday issued an advisory to regulate the services at Aahaar centres across the state.

In a letter to the district collectors, Municipal Commissioners, Executive Officers of Municipalities and Notified Area Councils (NACs), principal secretary, Housing and Urban Development, G Mathivathanan has asked them to strictly follow the following guidelines.

—The Aahaar centres will continue as usual but with an extension of time. The serving time during the day will now be from 10 AM to 4 PM. This is being done to decongest the centres.

—People have to make a queue at the Aahaar centre and the distance between two individuals should be minimum of 1.5 metres.

—To regulate the queue and maintain discipline, help of police/home guards need to be solicited.

—Hand wash system with liquid soap/soap should be placed near the entrance outside the building  and people need to wash their hand before they enter the queue at the Aahaar centres.

—Temporary hand wash counters (adequate numbers) usually provided during the wedding and other social functions may be hired from tent houses or suppliers. The hand wash facilities should be kept outside the Aahaar centres so that people before joining the queue can wash hands and use it after taking the food which will help in decongesting the hand wash area inside the hall.

—Efforts should be made to decongest the Aahaar centres. If required, people may be encouraged to carry the plate with food outside the centres for eating and bins may be kept outside for placing the used plates.

—For purchasing coupon/token for food, beneficiaries may be asked to drop their money inside the box kept for the purpose to minimise the physical contacts. The front office or the token counter should be regularly sanitised,

—Adequate drinking water facilities should be provided outside the hall which will help in decongestion. The external water supply facilities can be made available on hiring basis temporarily.

—Rigorous cleaning and sanitising using disinfectants may be made to make the centre hygienic.

—The staff managing the Aahaar centres should be regularly sensitised on the above instructions.