Lockdown: Mumbai train arrives in Bengaluru, chaos follows

The first train from COVID-19 hotspot Mumbai chugged into the KSR Bengaluru railway station on Tuesday, bringing with it about 600 people and plenty of chaos and confusion.

After passengers disembarked from the Udyan Express, there were angry scenes as some of them unhappy with quarantine rules argued with officials.

There was drama on the road as well.

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BBMP officials, who were at the scene, said a handful of passengers even got down from a bus that was taking them to quarantine.

“The passengers had opted for a free quarantine facility,” explained a source in the BBMP. “They got into the BMTC bus but soon started protesting at the high bus fare. When the driver stopped the bus, they got down and said they would walk instead. The driver also started moving the bus. Officials had a tough time convincing everyone to fall in line even as we processed more than 500 people.”

Some passengers who arrived from Mumbai protested at the tariff of hotels identified as quarantine facilities.

Gaps in data on the origin stations of passengers lingered till late in the evening, as the railways and the BBMP gave diverging figures.

South Western Railway’s Chief Public Relations Officer E Vijaya said 644 passengers, including 52 children, got down in Bengaluru on Tuesday morning. She said the number included several people who got on to the train at stations within Karnataka to reach Bengaluru.

But BBMP officials said 556 people arrived from Mumbai.

“Since Maharashtra is a high-risk state, we had taken precautions. We took swab samples of 114 persons whose temperature was slightly above normal. All the 556 persons have been sent for institutional quarantine,” a senior official said.

However, sources in the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation said they carried only about 200-250 people. “Only 10 buses were used for transporting passengers to paid/institutional quarantine. We might have carried a maximum of 200 to 250 people. We can’t comment on what happened to the rest,” an official said.

To a question, BBMP Chief Health Officer (Public Health) Dr B K Vijayendra said jurisdictional revenue officials were yet to provide details of the passengers. Joint Commissioner (west) Chidananda did not answer phones or text messages.

While reports claimed that about 15 passengers tried to escape, railway police said nobody tried to flee.

“Two passengers had got down at Bangalore East Railway Station. They were immediately sent to KSR Station. At Majestic, some passengers were told to get off by the driver and they got down from the bus. They boarded another bus and went to the quarantine centre,” a Railway Police officer said.