Goa tourists fly from Karnataka to Maharashtra to avoid ‘unnecessary’ Covid test

MANGALURU: The new travel rules announced by Maharashtra government in view of the second wave of Covid-19 have led to many taking a detour to reach the state. 

People entering Maharashtra from states witnessing a Covid spike like Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa are required to show RT-PCR negative report on arrival at airports, railway stations and state borders, or have to undergo immediate tests. 

To skip this, many people from Goa are travelling by road to airports in Belagavi, Hubballi and Mangaluru, from where they take flights to Mumbai and other places in Maharashtra.

If they travel directly from Panjim to airports in Maharashtra, they will have to stick to the travel rules but that does not apply if they board flights from Karnataka. 

Hubballi Airport director Pramod Kumar Thakre said that they do not keep track of the travel record of passengers boarding flights at their airport and added that he needs to check if the traffic to Maharashtra has increased recently.

But sources in private airlines confirmed that occupancy has been full in the last few days. 

A Mumbai-based family that drove all the way to Mangaluru from Old Goa to take a Mumbai flight on Saturday said they had to change the itinerary.  

“We had no plans to visit Udupi and Mangaluru and were supposed to return from Goa. We had to take a flight from Mangaluru to skip the ‘unnecessary’ Covid test.”