The first train from Mumbai, a COVID-19 hotspot, pulled into Bengaluru’s Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station with 644 passengers, including 52 children, on Tuesday morning. However, chaos reigned at the station as several passengers were unhappy with the long process of deboarding and medical checkups.

Four passengers left the railway station premises in autorickshaws even before being screened in an attempt to escape the mandatory institutional quarantine. City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao appealed to them to report back to the station or be charged. But in the end, it was the police and civic officials who tracked them down using information on the reservation list and the vehicle registration numbers of the autorickshaws.

The process took several hours, but all four were finally traced, subjected to a medical examination, and sent to institutional quarantine facilities. Mr. Rao told The Hindu that a criminal case would be booked against them under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Senior civic officials said that the people who came in contact with them, including the autorickshaw drivers who ferried them, will be monitored.

Confusion at the station

Initially, officials tried to deboard passengers from each bogie, but the system soon unravelled as passengers refused to wait for their turn. A train from Delhi that arrived around the same time added to the chaos at the ten counters health officials had put up.

In the rush, social distancing was ignored. Several passengers took objection to the long wait. With an over 12-hour journey and large number of children among the passengers, the lack of food became a bone of contention as deboarding procedures extended into the afternoon. Eventually, officials organised food at the railway station.

What added to the confusion was that several passengers had boarded Udayan Express, the train from Mumbai, in Kalaburagi and other stations in the State, who claimed they need not go into the mandatory seven-day institutional quarantine for those coming from Maharashtra.

While all passengers were checked for symptoms and temperature, throat swabs of children, senior citizens and pregnant women were collected at the railway station itself, to ensure faster test results. The rest of the passengers will be tested while in quarantine. As per the new guidelines issued by the State government, those arriving from Maharashtra have to undergo seven days institutional quarantine followed by seven days of home quarantine.