COVID-19: Odisha Govt Issues Guidelines for Regulating Services in Aahaar Centres

Bhubaneswar: Keeping the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in mind, the Odisha Government has issued guidelines for regulating the services in all Aahaar Centres in the State.

The guidelines issued by the Housing and Urban Development Department said that the Aahaar centres will continue as usual but with extension of time.

The serving time during day will now be extended from 10 AM to 4 PM. This is done to slow down the movement of crowd & decongest the centres.

People have to make a queue in the Aahaar centre and the distance between two individuals should be minimum 1.5 metre, the Department said.

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

The entry side of the Aahaar centres should have, hand wash system placed outside the building with liquid soap/soap and people need to wash their hand before they enter the queue in the Aahaar centres.

Temporary hand wash counters (adequate numbers) usually provided during wedding and other social functions may be brought on hire from Tent Houses or suppliers. This hand wash facility should be kept outside the Aahaar Centres so that people before joining the queue can wash hands and use after taking the food which will help in decongesting the hand wash area inside the hall, it added.

All efforts should be made to decongest the Aahaar centres. If required people may be encouraged to carry the plate with food to outside the centres for eating & 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, the guidelines say.