Bengal rider for evacuation flights Call to make quarantine booking slip a must

Government officials try to convince passengers who arrived in the city from Kyrgyzstan on Thursday to go to quarantine centres :Telegraph pictures

Sanjay Mandal, TT, 27.06.20, Calcutta: Bengal has asked the Centre to stop international evacuation flights to Calcutta unless it ensures passengers have booked paid quarantine facilities for themselves before boarding a flight, a move that follows instances of fliers heading home from the airport instead of a quarantine unit.

Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha raised the demand in a letter he sent to the civil aviation ministry on Friday. Earlier in the day, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the Centre would be asked to stop international evacuation flights from July 1.

Sources said Sinha mentioned in the letter that the Bengal government would withdraw the no-objection certificate for international evacuation flights if the ministry did not ensure that all passengers had booked hotels for paid quarantine before boarding a flight.

The state government, in an attempt to restrict the spread of Covid-19, has made it mandatory for all those flying back from abroad to spend a week at a paid quarantine unit and another week thereafter in home isolation.

“Covid is increasing all over India, all over the world. But I am seeing all international flights have started. The Centre has said those who would arrive from other countries would undergo seven days’ institutional quarantine, which is pay and use. The arrangements were also made for that. But I am seeing many flights coming and (passengers) are not prevented (from heading home from the airport),” Mamata said.

“Earlier, we had allowed international evacuation flights to Bengal on condition that the passengers would pre-book paid facilities and they would be allowed to board a flight after producing the documents. But that is not happening,” a senior state government official said.

The chief minister said: “On the flight they are given paper on which they write the details. But after arrival, these papers are not checked. They are allowed to go. No health protocol is being followed. If this continues, how much will we control? Someone else’s irresponsible behaviour or decision or negligence will make it (Covid-19) spread in Bengal. This should not happen…. We are saying stop international flights because those who were supposed to come have already arrived. Have one flight a month, we have no objection.”

Referring to the international fliers who are refusing to go to a quarantine centre, she said: “How can we track them? You are saying testing, tracking, tracing. But there is not testing, no tracking, no tracing. In Bengal, we have kept it under control but it is spreading. It cannot go on.”

The Telegraph reported on Thursday about a fiasco over 143 fliers from Malaysia who refused to go to any paid quarantine centre after landing at the airport around 7pm on Tuesday and, instead, headed home. The passengers, mostly labourers who had been out of work for months because of Covid-19, sat on the floor in the arrival section for close to seven hours before they were allowed to leave.

On Friday last week, all 140 passengers on a flight from Kyrgyzstan had refused to go to a paid quarantine unit and left for home.

A similar scene unfolded at the airport on Thursday night, too, after an Air India flight with 157 evacuees from Kyrgyzstan landed around 9pm. The passengers, mostly medical students, refused to go to any paid quarantine unit and were finally allowed to leave around 12.30am.

Later on Friday, it was decided that all evacuees would be told at the arrival area baggage carousel that they would have to book a paid quarantine unit. “It’s only after they book a paid facility that they will get customs clearance. Then they will be taken to the arrival lounge in groups of 20. If they refuse to go to a quarantine centre, police will take them there,” a government official said.

The Telegraph's report on Wednesday

Domestic flights

Mamata said domestic flights from cities with a large number of Covid-19 cases would not be allowed. “We had detected a few days ago that a Covid patient from Chennai (had flown to Calcutta). He boarded the flight with Covid documents in his pocket. No test, no check-up,” she said.

“So, we are saying flights from those places where the number of Corona cases is very high should not come till July 1,” she said.

Mamata said she had no problems with domestic flights operating within Bengal. “I have no problem and domestic flights can operate once in 15 days. We will get tests done following the protocol.”