Hyderabad: No quarantine for Telangana bound air passengers

Hyderabad: Passengers coming from different locations by air were taken for a surprise on Sunday with a Covid-19 advisory issued by Indigo and few other airlines.

They were told that there were no specific guidelines that they would have to observe, if they were travelling from their destinations like Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat to Hyderabad and Telangana. But they need to observe Covid-19 health advisories issued if travelling via Hyderabad.

Speaking to The Hans India, Y Rajesh, from Delhi said, "My sister wants to go to Kurnool. I want to book a ticket from to Delhi to Hyderabad or Bangaluru on Indigo Airlines. Because, after reaching Bangaluru or Hyderabad, again, she had to take a taxi to travel to Kurnool by road," he added.

However, the airline's staff informed him that the Karnataka State government health advisory to air passengers make it mandatory for Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra have to undergo an institutional quarantine for seven days. That apart, a 14-day home quarantine is mandated for passengers coming from remaining states from other states.

The 14-day home quarantine also covers the passengers found negative for Covid-19. But, falls under any of the other categories like pregnant women, children of 10 years of age and below, senior citizens of 80 years of age and above, terminally ill patients with complaints like cancer, chronic kidney disease, stroke etc.

Further, Rajesh was informed that her sister has to obtain a travel pass to enter into the state from the 'Seva Sindhu' web portal of Karnataka government.

Without the pass, "I am told passengers are not allowed to travel to Karnataka." Following this, I have tried to explore to book a ticket from Delhi to Hyderabad. The airlines informed that there are no restrictions of Covid-19 to be followed by the air passengers travelling to Hyderabad". The airlines asked Rajesh to contact the authorities concerned of AP state before booking the ticket. As AP has also prescribed a mandatory 7-day institutional quarantine for passengers coming by air from Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Like, Karnataka, a 14-day home quarantine for passengers also arriving from other locations.

Besides, the airline passengers arriving at the airports of Rajahmundry, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam of that state are mandated to enroll on spandana.ap.gov.in before purchasing tickets.

The Indigo state-wise regulations to the travellers shared to the prospective customer show that Telangana and Bihar are the only two out of 20 plus states in the country which have not prescribed any travel regulations to the airline passengers.