Bengaluru: Paid quarantine rider ruins homecoming for many

BENGALURU: Those who returned to Bengaluru on a passenger train from New Delhi, were “welcomed” at KSR railway station with a rude shock and a choice: They would have to compulsorily spend the next 14 days under quarantine in hotels, which they would have to pay for. The solace was they could choose the hotel.
Passengers were caught off guard, saying they had no clue the state had unleashed what in their eyes was a “draconian” measure. Many said they had expected to go into home quarantine and would have rather stayed back if they had known better. While some travellers accepted the government’s paid quarantine plan after much reluctance, at least a couple of hundred refused it outright.
They launched an impromptu protest inside the waiting room of the station, demanding the government send them back home. Many protesters TOI spoke with said they didn’t have the money to pay for quarantine and the policy was only akin to rubbing salt in one’s wounds after a nightmarish journey — the train left Delhi at 9.15pm on Tuesday and reached here at 7.18am on Thursday.
They said they had endured hardships wherever they were stranded during the lockdown only banking on the hope of returning home safe. And now, their home state had deprived them of a considerate homecoming. Many passengers shelled out fares as high as Rs 6,255.
“We did not have even a single drop of water to drink on the train,” said Ramesh P, who had travelled from Bhopal. “The railways did not supply either food or water and the restrooms are something I do not even want to discuss.”
Divya Sriram, who boarded the train in Delhi, said it has been 34 hours since she used the restroom because the train toilets were filthy. This, after paying through their nose for a ticket. “There was neither water nor a tissue roll. How do they expect us to use the bathrooms? On reaching Bengaluru, officials are asking to go into institutional quarantine. Where is the money?” Divya said.
Avinash RL, who had travelled from Bhopal, said, “The government here and officials are miserable misers. They are not even providing free drinking water.”
Some were accompanied by senior citizens. Padmaja P, who arrived from Hyderabad with her two elderly parents, said: “I asked for one room since three of us need to stay together but they said we need to take two rooms with a Rs 1,500 tariff each for 14 days. My parents are old and we would have preferred to stay home”.
Many were seen struggling to mobilise money for institutional quarantine. Roshan K said: “They asked me to choose between paid hotels or free government hostels. I opted for the latter but don’t know how their condition will be”.
BBMP health officials, who were deployed at the station to help facilitate the transfer to quarantine facilities, said they were taking no chances.
“We do not want the virus to spread. People may not maintain social distancing if they go home. Let us wait for a fresh decision from the government.”