The nationwide lockdown called on March 25 was a bolt out from the blue for the whole country. The most suffered of it being the stranded migrant labourers, students, workers, pilgrims and tourists. On Monday, June 8, as 'Unlock 1' came into effect, the plight of these stranded people seemingly remained unchanged.
Endless wait for travellers
Although inter-state travel is now permitted, most of the passengers to Karnataka continue to desolately wait to receive their green signal. Those wishing to enter the state in their private vehicles, particularly from Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu, remain the worst-hit as no more slots are available in the Seva Sindhu portal for the next immediate days.
The only available slot is 10 days from now. At the Attibele border, which allows passengers from Tamil Nadu or parts of Kerala to enter Bengaluru have no available slots till June 17. Similarly, at Bagepalli check post and Nangali check-post have slots available only after June 16 and June 12 respectively.
The former check post acts as the gateway to Bengaluru from Andhra Pradesh while Nangali is the entryway to the state capital from North-east.
As the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka mandates the registration of these travellers in the Seva Sindhu app, lack of availability of slots in the portal adds up these passengers' woes. The registration in Seva Sindhu app is currently the record permitting the interstate travel to Karnataka.
With the stringent lockdown rules relaxed, the Seva Sindhu app has been receiving a flow of requests, which probably led to the shortage of slots. The passengers are now asking for more number of slots as the count of inter-state travellers will meet a steady increase in the following days.
Quarantine for inter-state travellers
In its guidelines released for inter-state travellers, the Karnataka government has mandated all interstate travellers from Maharashtra to strictly abide by seven-day institutional quarantine, followed by another seven-day home quarantine.
Travellers from other states should undertake compulsory 14-days home quarantine.
"Registration through the Seva Sindhu app is required so that we know who is travelling into Karnataka and from where," says a senior BBMP official.
"This will help us get all the information about the person like address, phone number so that we can keep track of his/her whereabouts and ensure that they are in home quarantine," added the official.
