Srinagar : Some of the passengers who were on board in a flight from Delhi to Srinagar on March 16 with Coronavirus infected woman Saturday revealed that not a single passenger at Srinagar Airport was screened. They revealed that like any other passenger, the woman infected with COVID-19 left the Airport and there was no role of any VIP who helped her to come out from Airport without following due procedure.
On March 18, an elderly woman from Khayam Srinagar was detected positive for Coronavirus at SKIMS. It was alleged that woman being from a respectable family and mother-in-law of a top cop used influence to get a safe passage, without being screened at Airport.
Kashmir News Trust reached out to some of the fellow passengers of the woman to find out the reality. A passenger (name withheld) from Tawheedabad Bemina, who in fact asked us to reveal his name said that there were 110 passengers on the flight and he was one among them. “We landed at Srinagar Airport. There was no screening but our body temperatures were ‘nonchalantly’ checked. We all were allowed to go without any hindrance. This woman too followed us and left the Airport. I must say there was no involvement of any VIP influence. She was like us a common passenger,” he said.
He said that as the news broke about the said woman on March 18, he was perplexed and called some of the passengers and all decided to send their details to administration, so that they could be checked and quarantined.
“The administration informed me that a vehicle will be sent to my home to undergo tests. The vehicle never arrived. Later they provided me a Help Line number and asked me to inform them in case I feel Coronavirus like symptoms. I have kept aloof myself from the outside world and staying at home. Thank God, I am alright,” he said.
There were 30 passengers from Srinagar on that plane carrying the Coronavirus infected woman. One of the passengers told over phone that he was disheartened to see the response from the Health Department. “They say all the fellow passengers will be tested, but, we are insisting them to expedite the process.” He too admitted that no VIP influence was used to evacuate the said woman from the Airport.
A family member of one of the fellow passengers said that 11 residents from South Kashmir’s Shopian district were on board in that plane. “District Development Commissioner without wasting any time quarantined all those 11 passengers and they are safe,” he said.
When contacted, a government official said that they are soon going to release a statement about the fellow passengers of the woman and the action taken thereof. (KNT)
