Chennai: One of the important factors of fighting Covid-19 spread is quarantining.
The Air Force station at Tambaram is currently serving as a quarantine centre where passengers, including transit flyers stuck at Kuala Lumpur and reached Chennai on an Air Aisa flight on 23 March, are made to stay.
The group is a mix of north and south Indians. It is said that while those from Tamilnadu were given transit passes to move out of the air base today, the rest from Punjab, Surat, Bengaluru, Bhopal and Lucknow have not been told when they can leave for their native places.
It has been close to three weeks since they have been on quarantine and with no sign of illness and tested negative for Coronavirus multiple times, they want to go back at the earliest.
“We do not know when we will be given our tansit passes. It the District Collector who is issuing them,” a woman passenger, who is staying there with her husband, told News Today over phone.
“When we boarded the flight at Kuala Lumpur, we were informed that we can go to Chennai from where we can go to our respective State and be quarantined. I had a flight on 24 morning from Chennai to Delhi, but based on a government order we had to come here,” she said.
She said since the quarantine period of 14 days is over, the State administration can issue them passes.”My husband and I are diabetic and our son is alone back home”, she added.
It is said that some of them are willing to take taxis back home, arranged by their companies.
When News Today reached out to the Air Force authorities to find out when they could be sent back, they said it was the decision of the District and State administrations. “The delay is because approval of the Centre and governments of other States is needed. They will be given passes soon,” the officials added.