GUWAHATI, March 29 - The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) today said it has taken a number of measures to ensure that its staff and workers, who are doing essential services duty in this period of lockdown, are safe.
�Railway staff deployed for performing essential services at different locations like goods sheds, stations and control offices are working round the clock for smooth plying of freight trains. We have taken steps to ensure that bare minimum staff are deployed for goods train operation at offices, stations, control centres as well as for security and infrastructural maintenance. Thermal screening of staff is being done before the commencement of duty. Proper sanitisation of workplaces is done and our staff are using masks and practising social distancing while on duty. Use of sanitisers and hand wash is being ensured,� said Subhanan Chanda, chief public relations officer (CPRO) of NF Railway.
He said railway locomotives and coaches, as well as railway colonies, are also being sanitised.
�Fitness of officials and their family members regarding symptoms of COVID-19 are being closely monitored as per norms of the World Health Organization (WHO). Training on reception and transportation of suspected COVID-19 patients and use of ventilation has been imparted in various railway hospitals to doctors and paramedics,� Chanda said.
He added that railway staff in all five divisions of NFR are making masks and sanitisers for use by essential staff on duty.
�Home delivery of essential commodities like groceries and vegetables are being arranged in various locations in order to restrict the unnecessary movement of staff looking for such items,� Chanda said.
He said stations are being cleaned regularly in spite of the suspension of passenger train operations.
�The Railways is also converting train coaches into isolation wards to prepare for a fight against the coronavirus pandemic,� the NFR CPRO added.
