A round-the-clock war room has been set up in the Secretariat to monitor and supervise the COVID-19 containment activities. The war room, set up under Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 and the Disaster Management Act, will be headed by Principal Secretary K. Elangovan.
IAS officers P.I. Sreevidya, Joshi Mrunmayi Shashank, Haritha V. Kumar, S. Chandrasekhar, and K. Inbasekhar have been tasked with manning it on shift basis. Chief Secretary Tom Jose, in his order on March 26, has asked the heads of Health, Police, Revenue, Local Self-Government, Transport, Food and Civil Supplies departments to nominate an appropriate officer to facilitate its management.
Movement of goods
The war room will facilitate hassle-free movement of goods from adjoining States through coordination with the respective governments and monitor the situation.
It started functioning on Thursday with the department heads nominating the officers. Official sources said the monitoring of COVID-19 containment measures has commenced. The South Conference Hall has been converted into the war room by installing communication facilities.
