In Karnataka, Mandatory Quarantine Is Making A Hole In Fliers' Pocket
Karnataka has observed that many new cases are people that have travelled to the state from outside, prompting the administration to impose a seven-day institutional quarantine for passengers arriving from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
by Written by Maya Sharma
Bengaluru:
The seven-day mandatory institutional quarantine is proving to be a headache for many of those taking flights to Karnataka after the resumption of domestic air-travel.
Karnataka has observed that many new cases of Covid-19 in the state are people that who have travelled from outside, prompting the administration to impose a seven-day institutional quarantine for passengers arriving from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The institutional quarantine will be followed by another seven-day home quarantine if they test negative after a week.
This has caused difficulty to many.
Saurabh Gouniyal, who works in a restaurant in Bengaluru, has travelled with his 6-months pregnant wife, Mampi Das, from Delhi.
The couple was shocked by the costs of the quarantine at hotels.
"They are charging transport fee. Lunch charges. Dinner charges. It is coming to about - 3000 a day which is a lot of money. The government knows we are all financially hit by the lockdown," Mr Gouniyal told NDTV.
The couple pleaded with authorities to let them go home but didn't succeed, and finally, they decided to travel back to Delhi.
They went to the departure gate again. But there were no flights available.
The couple later decided to stay at the quarantine hotel for a day and head back to Delhi tomorrow.
"This is so difficult for us, we have no choice so we are going to the hotel for a day. But tomorrow we are flying back to Delhi," he said.
Shilpa, another traveller from Delhi, also told NDTV why she wsihed she could skip the mandatory quarantine.
"I want to go to see my mother. WHO IS UNWELL. That is the reason I have come. I tried to ask them if I could go straight. But they are insisting that I go to quarantine," Shilpa told NDTV.
Her cousin, Balaji, who came to meet her said that they had all the necessary medical documents of her mother but the authorities are were not allowing her to go home.
"We have all the medical documents. She could actually have isolated at home. Her mother stays alone. But they would not listen. We have been looking after her mother for the past 45 days. Now she still has to wait to meet her daughter," Balaji told NDTV.