Passengers get four with home quarantine stamp to alight train

The Western Railway (WR) authorities on Wednesday got four passengers, who had returned from Germany and had coronavirus home quarantine stamp on their hands, to

The Western Railway (WR) authorities on Wednesday got four passengers, who had returned from Germany and had coronavirus home quarantine stamp on their hands, to de-board the Bandra Terminus-Delhi Garib Rath Express train at Palghar, after co-passengers raised an alarm.

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The four Gujarat residents claimed they were screened at the airport, and were asked to stay in home quarantine until April 1. They were travelling from Bandra Terminus to Surat in Gujarat. Seeing them on the train, co-passengers informed the ticket-checker, who, in turn, alerted the WR authorities. The train then made an unscheduled halt at Palghar railway station, about 100km from Mumbai. “Four passengers were de-boarded from coach G4 and G5. The passengers had flown down from Germany and were headed to Surat. They were taken to a government hospital in Palghar. The passengers had undergone checking at the airport and had a stamp mentioning home quarantine,” a Western Railway official said.

They said they went ahead with their journey as their tickets were booked. They claimed they were humiliated by other passengers inside the compartment of the outstation train. “We boarded the train at Bandra terminus after being medically examined at the international airport for nearly two hours. We tested negative for the virus and advised to stay home. We were asked to regularly use hand sanitisers and wear face masks all the time. As the train left Bandra, two passengers questioned us on carrying a huge suitcase. When we told them we had arrived from Germany, they started humiliating us. At Borivali railway station, the passenger informed the ticket examiner on board and the train was halted at Palghar station. We asked the western railway to provide us the money for our travel from road till Gujarat. However, there was no response,” said one of the four passengers.

On Monday, the Maharashtra government decided to stamp the back of the palm of people asked to undergo self-quarantine with indelible ink, so as to prevent them from coming in contact with other people.

Two foreigners were asked to de-board the Mandvi Express at Dadar railway station late Tuesday night and sent to the Seven Hills hospital for quarantine.

Meanwhile, the WR cancelled eight more outstation trains on Wednesday until March 31. Tejas Express between Ahmedabad and Mumbai Central railway also been cancelled until March 31.

(Inputs from Ram Parmar)