Coronavirus: Hotels in Shimla told to keep record of foreigners
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service
Shimla, March 7
In view of the threat of coronavirus, the police and the district administration today issued strict guidelines to hotels to ensure proper registration of all foreigners and keep records of their arrival, nationality, travel history and departure and intimate them about the details, failing which strict action would be taken.
Disobedience of orders to invite strict action: SP
Any hotel owner, who does not follow the directions, will face strict action. Cases will be registered under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act against those who disobeys the orders. As per Section 7(1) of the Foreigners Act, it is the duty of the owner of a hotel or any premises where a foreign national is staying to intimate the officials concerned, failing which he can face a sentence.
All SPs were directed to ensure strict enforcement of the Foreigners Act 1939, Registration of Foreigners Act 1946, and Registration of Foreigner Rules 1992 so that the government is aware about the presence and movement of foreigners in the state.
Kushal Sharma, SP (Law and Order), said that in case any hotel owner did not follow the directions, strict action would be initiated against him. He added cases would be registered under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act against those who disobeys the directions. “As per Section 7(1) of the Foreigners Act, it is the duty of the owner of a hotel or any premises where a foreign national is staying to intimate the officials concerned, failing which he can face a sentence,” he said.
He added that it was mandatory for all hotels to get Form-C filled by all foreigners staying in their units.
Amit Kashyap, Deputy Commissioner, held a meeting with the principals and representatives of all government and private schools in the state capital. He said there was still no positive case of cornonavirus in Himachal and there was no reason to panic.
Kashyap said that a team of doctors was visiting all schools to create awareness about the virus and in case any student shows symptoms of the disease, doctors should be contacted. He added that all schools, especially boarding, had been directed to monitor children, particularly those coming from abroad and high risk nations, for symptoms of the disease.
He said that the screening of all Nepalese labourers and workers coming from Uttarakhand was being done. Tourists coming from other states were also being screened at Shoghi and isolation wards had been set up at the IGMC and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.
