Ghaziabad seals its border, says cases with Delhi link rising

GHAZIABAD: Citing a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases with links to Delhi, the Ghaziabad administration sealed its borders with the capital on Monday, the same day airspace opened up for domestic flights.
The new guidelines issued by the Ghaziabad administration are a little more relaxed than those imposed during the third phase of the lockdown. Apart from those associated with essential services, lawyers, doctors and journalists can travel across the border if they produce their identity cards. Flyers who land in Delhi have to secure an online pass from the UP government and have their flight tickets handy to enter Ghaziabad.

“Only those attached with essential services would be allowed into Ghaziabad without any papers. For everybody else, passes or identity cards are a must,” DM Ajay Shankar Pandey said.
Those that come under the ambit of “essential services” include trucks carrying medical equipment, ambulances and vehicles on bank duty. Doctors and paramedical staff not associated with Covid duty, police personnel and bank employees will have to show their identity cards at the border. Similarly, central government officials at the level of secretary will be allowed after their credentials are verified.
“Third and fourth grade employees of Delhi and central government offices, where 33% attendance is a must, would be required to produce passes to enter Ghaziabad. Identity cards alone will not be enough,” Pandey said.
The administration has, however, stuck to its 9am-6pm rule. Since most offices in Delhi open by 9am, government employees will have to cross over to the national capital before that. They will be allowed back into Ghaziabad only after 6pm.
Journalists and lawyers will be allowed through the border if they have valid identity cards. In cases of emergency, a Ghaziabad resident wanting to go to Delhi will have to secure a pass from the administration.
Earlier, too, Ghaziabad had cited a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases with Delhi links for its decision to seal the border. According to the health department, around 30% of positive cases reported in Ghaziabad have some connection with Delhi — either the patient had visited a hospital in the capital or had gone there for some work.
Ghaziabad chief medical officer NK Gupta said around 50 patients alone were found to have visited hospitals in Delhi. “There are many more who had travelled to the capital for some work or the other,” he added.