Coronavirus: 19 passengers reach Bengaluru, urge to go back to Delhi

As many as 19 passengers who travelled on a train from New Delhi for nearly 40 hours to reach Bengaluru on Thursday morning, chose to return to the national capital as they refused to undergo the institutional quarantine stating that they were not informed of the rule.

The one-way special train had brought 543 passengers from New Delhi. Chaos erupted after about 140 passengers refused to pay “hefty hotel bills” or “risk infection” at the government quarantine centres during the 14-day institutional quarantine. An argument ensued between the officials from the BBMP and Health Department following which passengers staged a flash protest chanting “home quarantine”. Coming under pressure, the BBMP officials escalated the matter to the state government.

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Alleging that they were not informed about the mandatory institutional quarantine, the protesters stayed put at the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station in Majestic, demanding that they are allowed home quarantine.

Finally, in the evening, Railway Police IGP D Roopa wrote to the Divisional Railway Manager, seeking arrangements to send back those refusing to undergo the mandatory quarantine.

“Some passengers have expressed willingness to undergo quarantine for 14 days. A few other passengers have requested that they are allowed to travel back from Bengaluru to the stations from where they boarded the train. They have agreed to bear the fare,” she said.

Kulwinder Kaur, who works in a salon in Bengaluru, was among the 140 passengers who did not move from the railway station. She boarded the train from Secunderabad on Wednesday evening. “I had gone to Secunderabad to visit the relative of a close friend who was ill. I came back because I urgently need to resume work. But only after landing here, I was told that I have to stay in a hotel,” she told DH.

Late in the evening, Kaur was one of many who relented. “As they threatened to send me back, I used my savings to pay Rs 3,000 as a deposit in a hotel. I didn’t know what else to do,” she said.

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South Western Railway Chief Public Relations Officer E Vijaya said in a communication that 19 passengers preferred to go back to Delhi. “After persuasion, a majority of them proceeded to the quarantine. Nineteen of them preferred to go back to Delhi,” she said.