Over 300 people, who remained stranded in several parts of Itanagar Capital Region due to lockdown, were transported back to their respective districts on Thursday by the state government.
Disaster management and transport secretary Dani Salu said a total of 27 state transport buses were engaged to transport the people on the day.
“The buses were used to transport stranded people belonging to Tawang, West Kameng, Pakke-Kessang, Kra-Daadi, East Kameng, Kurung Kumey, Lower and Upper Subansiri and Kamle as these are the only districts which can be reached without entering Assam,” Sulu said.
Sulu, however, said “people of eastern Arunachal and other left out districts have nothing to worry and the authorities concerned are drawing out plans for their evacuation in a phase-wise manner.”
He said wearing of masks has been made mandatory for passengers, drivers and conductors and the buses would be disinfected before departure and on regular basis for safety reasons.
“To maintain social distancing, the department is allowing only 10 people to travel in a 20-seater bus,” he said while adding that the department is making sure that no guidelines issued by the Union home ministry are violated.
The transport secretary also clarified that there are no issues with the online portal which is being used to collect details of persons who wish to go back and most of the passengers, who travelled on Thursday booked their tickets online.