E-Paper
Poor arrangements cause chaos at Amritsar airport
Passengers had to jostle with each other on counters to collect and submit forms
Even as footfall has gone down at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport here due to suspension of international flights in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak, the government has not been able to make proper arrangements for screening of passengers landing at the airport, leading to chaos inside the terminal and posing risk to their health.
During screening of passengers and recording of information, including their travel history, the passengers faced a lot of inconvenience on Friday and Saturday.
Some photographs and videos were shared by a passenger with HT, in which there were no queues on the counters where the government employees were distributing and collecting forms to gather information about the passengers.
Several passengers were jostling with each other while some preferred to sit aside and wait for reduction in the rush.
HP Singh, who flew from Chicago (US) to New Delhi and then took a flight to Amritsar on Friday evening, said he had to spend two hours inside the terminal of Amritsar airport to complete various formalities due to poor arrangements. “This poses risk to passengers’ health.”
Officials, seeking anonymity, said some passengers fled the terminal without screening, thanks to their contacts with the “well-placed persons”. The officials concerned in the health department were not available for their comments.
Meanwhile, airport director Manoj Chinsoria said the Air India Express flight carrying 152 passengers from Dubai landed on Friday afternoon. Another flight from Doha is landing during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
He said the footfall of international passengers from 5 am Friday to 5am Saturday was 553, while 1,101 passengers arrived at the airport during the same period through domestic flights.
