SRINAGAR: Dozens of Kashmiri students, who returned to the valley from Bangladesh in view of Coronavirus pandemic, alleged casual screening by authorities at Srinagar airport, which they said could lead to an outbreak of the deadly disease caused by the virus.
The government of India on Monday announced cancellation of domestic flights effective from March 24 midnight. However, a group of 50 Kashmiri students pursuing MBBS in Bangladesh and who arrived in valley on Monday told Kashmir Reader that passengers landing at the airport were “merely handed a self-declaration form in the name of screening and randomly sent to quarantine facilities” in disregard to social distancing recommended for breaking the chain of the virus transmission.
“After de-boarding, the authorities randomly put kept them at the airport along with other passengers with different travel histories thus putting them at a risk of contracting the Covid-19 disease,” a student alleged.
“To increase the risk further, the travellers returning from different abroad countries were randomly crammed into buses to the quarantine facilities,” a student added.
“There is no proper screening. How do we know who is carrying the virus?” he asked.
The students said that 50 of them were on Monday put on quarantine inside a private Srinagar hotel along with at least 3 Dubai returned passengers.
“If a student turns out to be positive, it will put all the travellers at risk,” said a student.
For Faizan, one of the aggrieved students, said it is understandable that they can’t get home like facilities at the quarantine facilities under the prevailing circumstances. But he suggested that there should be no compromise on a fool-proof screening of residents returning to valley from outside.
“If we are to prevent an outbreak here, it is possible only through a proper screening,” he said.
He further suggested that the passengers complaining of respiratory illnesses be isolated in terms of scale of illness to prevent the chain of transmission.
Many students, who returned to the valley by road, too complained a lack of proper screening on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
Rayees Ahmad, pursuing doctorate in Sociology at Aligarh Muslim University and who arrived home by road on Tuesday, said he will visit the hospital on Wednesday for a proper testing for the Coronavirus as he was not satisfied with the “casual screening on the highway”.

Irshad Khan