Bengaluru

20 April 2020 21:30 IST

Karnataka authorities irked by the manner in which they were sent back to Bengaluru

A group of 12 Kerala residents, who tested negative after 28-day quarantine at two facilities in Bengaluru, were recently denied entry back into their home State. They are now back in the quarantine facility.

The Karnataka government had on April 14 arranged a mini-bus to take them back to their home towns of Palakkad and Ernakulam. However, the bus was stopped at the Wayalar checkpost on the outskirts of Pallakad on April 14 evening and refused entry. They have since returned to Haj Bhavan in Bengaluru, one of the quarantine facilities.

Haj Bhavan Nodal Officer Syed Aijaz Ahmed said that several rounds of communication between officials from the Bengaluru Urban district and authorities at Palakkad till late in the night did not help. The bus driver was forced to bring back the group to Bengaluru.

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What has irked officials of Karnataka is the manner in which they were allegedly escorted back till the Karnataka border. The bus was sent with two escort patrolling vehicles — one leading the bus and another following. “The escort vehicles travelled with the mini-bus till up to 450 km from Palakkad to Hosur. All through the way, announcement was made through a loudspeaker, alerting people that a Karnataka quarantine vehicle was passing through the stretch and that they should stay away,” said Zabiullah Khaleel, driver of the mini-bus.

As the bus neared Erode on its way back, it ran short of fuel, complicating matters. “Although I managed to drive up to a petrol bunk, I did not have money for fuel. It was 11.30 p.m. and there was no way I could arrange for money. Mr. Aijaz Ahmed, who was in touch with me from the time they sent us back at Wayalar checkpost, told me to find out if the fuel station accepted payment through G-pay. And then he transferred ₹6,000 to my account from his daughter’s mobile phone,” said the driver, who alleged that the police harassed him not to stop anywhere till he entered Karnataka limits.

“The police escorted us till Hosur border. We managed to reach Bengaluru at 3.30 a.m. on April 15 and I dropped the Kerala group back to Haj Bhavan,” he said.

Unable to convince

Mr. Aijaz Ahmed told The Hindu that the Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner and officials from the Disaster Management Cell tried their best to convince Palakkad officials that these people had completed even the secondary quarantine of 14 days (after testing negative after the first 14 days) and that they were residents of Kerala. “But the officials were adamant and said not a single person could be allowed entry. They are at Haj Bhavan now,” he said.

He said a similar incident had happened a week prior to April 14 when two persons from Kerala, who had tested negative, were sent to Palakkad. “Although they were denied entry then, our officials managed to convince the District Collector and they were finally allowed to go home,” he said.