It seems that the Centre’s plan for resuming domestic flights has brought a lot of confusion about the rules and readiness in states. According to the recent reports, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal have said a no to center’s plan of resuming the flights. On Saturday, Maharashtra government said that the state has still not amended lockdown 4.0 order which came in effect from May 19, which indicated that the state is not keen to go ahead with the plan of reopening domestic flights as Maharashtra is the only state which has recorded highest number COVID-19 cases.
Not just this, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh also tweeted that it is extremely ill-advised to reopen the airports in red zones. After Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, which has reported the second-highest number of coronavirus cases also raised similar concerns and has requested the Civil Aviation Minister to pause the plan till May 31.
Now, due to Cyclone Amphan, the West Bengal government has also requested to delay the plan of flights to Kolkata till May 30. Further, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she will write to the center to send all the flights to Baddogra airport which is in North Bengal. The question that arises is even if the state accepts the proposal, it will be important to arrange for the transport from the airport but in cities like Mumbai, all the public transportation is banned so there is a possibility that passengers find it difficult to reach home.
Also Read: AIIMS Pulmonology department head Dr Jitendra Nath Pande dies of COVID-19
Its extremely ill-advised to reopen airports in red zone. Mere thermal scanning of passengers inadequate w/o swabs. Impossible to have autos/cabs/buses ply in current circumstances. Adding positive passenger will add Covid stress to red zone.#MaharashtraGovtCares
— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) May 23, 2020
Meanwhile, passenger airlines like SpiceJet, Vistara, IndiGo, AirAsia India have started their booking process for flights starting from Monday but GoAir is still waiting for clarification on rules for resuming all these services.
