Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 12: The J&K travellers reaching Delhi International Airport are being quarantined in Delhi even as the testing facilities are amply available at Srinagar Airport along with the quarantine facilities set up by the administration.
The transit passengers belonging to J&K reaching Delhi told Excelsior that they are being quarantined in Delhi despite the testing facilities being available at the Srinagar Airport due to which they have to undergo immense trouble.
Pertinent to mention here, earlier, there used to be a J&K Desk at the Delhi International Airport set up aimed at facilitating the travel of the transit passengers to their respective destinations.
The J&K Desk, as per its job, used to identify the J&K bound transit passengers who were then used to be taken directly to Srinagar or to Jammu where they were duly tested and screened and were even quarantined at their respective destination, if needed.
However, Excelsior has learned that the J&K desk at Delhi Airport has been closed for unknown reasons and the J&K bound transit passengers are made to undergo quarantine in Delhi. The move is said to have come in the wake of new COVID-19 strain.
Masarat Hashim, who is a Nodal Officer, COVID-19 Mitigation Operations in Srinagar told Excelsior that those who are reaching Delhi from abroad are being made to undergo quarantine in Delhi in the wake of mutant COVID-19 strain and that those who are travelling locally do not have to undergo quarantine anywhere at all.
“What is the need of undergoing quarantine in Delhi when there are already testing facility available at the Srinagar Airport. The transit passengers were earlier directly sent to Srinagar or Jammu where they were tested, but this new move of winding up the J&K desk at the Delhi airport is causing immense trouble,” a passenger said.
Notably, there is a full-fledged testing and screening system available at the Srinagar airport where the passengers reaching here are tested and screened and quarantined accordingly.
After a new strain of COVID-19 popped up in December, the Srinagar administration had made RTPCR testing mandatory for the travellers, particularly those travelling from the UK and other European countries, indicating that the testing would take place at the respective destinations. However, what is happening is contrary to it.
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