19 passengers from Ahmedabad reach Belagavi, sent to quarantine centre

A woman passenger from Ahmedabad is wheeled into the passenger lounge of the Sambra airport in Belagavi on Monday.

As many as 19 passengers arrived in Belagavi from Ahmedabad, capital of the high-risk State of Gujarat, on a private airliner on Monday.

A team of district officials, led by Assistant Commissioner Ashok Teli, oversaw the arrangements to send them to institutional quarantine for a week, before they could be sent home for seven days quarantine. All of them were sent to the CPED Grounds on Club Road from where they were sent to the institutional quarantine in either government or private facilities.

While most persons said that they had applied for passes on the State government’s sevasindhu portal, only a few said that they had got passes. Rakesh, an IT engineer from Hubballi, who bought ticket for the flight on May 23, said that he applied for the pass on Sunday, but he had not got it yet.

Amar Kumar, a businessman from Davangere who was stuck in Ahmedabad, said that he had no e-pass issued by the receiving district magistrate. “I had no idea that I had to apply online. I will ask officers in Karnataka to issue me a pass,” he said.

Bunty Arora, a post-graduate student of medicine, said that he had got himself tested for COVID-19 in Ahmedabad itself and that he had been found negative. “I don’t think I will need to undergo institutional quarantine. But officers are saying institutional quarantine is mandatory. Let us see,” he said.

Mr. Teli said that all passengers had to undergo institutional quarantine for a week. Only pregnant women and breast-feeding babies who test negative are exempted, he said. They can spend one week in home quarantine, he said. Those who violate the rules, will face action, he said.

Mahantesh Hiremath, executive engineer from the Urban Development Department, who has been deputed to supervise operations at the airport, said that a mobile app would track the movement of these passengers. He said that each case would be monitored closely.

Meanwhile, flights to Mumbai, Pune and Mysuru that were to begin on Monday were cancelled.

Flights to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bengaluru will operate, airport director Rajesh Kumar Mourya tweeted on Monday morning. The civilian airport in Sambra had prepared for the operation of 13 flights to connect Belagavi to five cities.