Domestic air services resume; flight from Del lands in Raipur

After a gap of around two months,domestic air services resumed in Chhattisgarh on Monday morning when the first flight arrived at the Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur from Delhi, an airport official said.Some of the passengers said they felt relieved at being back home after two months."An Indigo flight, with 82 passengers onboard, from Delhi landed at Raipur airport at 9 am," Raipur Airport Director Rakesh Sahay told PTI.Earlier, thefirst flight which was supposed to arrive here from Kolkata at 7.55 am was cancelled, the official said.Sahay also said that another flight with 41 passengers onboard arrived here from Hyderabad at 11 am.Besides, two flights departed from the Raipur Airport - for Delhi (at 9.30am) and Hyderabad (at 11.30 am) carrying 136 and 65 passengers, respectively, he said.The airport was sanitised on Sunday and the disinfection exercise will be conducted at regular intervals and all passengers have to use face covers or masks. Baggages are also being sanitised properly, the official said.All commercial passenger flights were suspended since March 25 when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus infection.Passengers who arrived here in the first flight on Monday expressed happiness at being back."I am happy to be back home, said Anupama, a Raipur native who works with a private firm in Gurugram."Since March 16 my office was shut, so I was confined to my home in Gurugram. Though I was not facing any problem there, but I just wanted to return to my home here, she said.The resumption of flight services also came as a big relief for a Hyderabad-bound passenger."My two-month-old daughter has some eye problem and doctors suggested to take her to a hospital in Hyderabad, the 32-year-old passenger said.A native of Chhattisgarh's Durg district, he booked tickets for Hyderabad as soon as he came to know about the resumption of domestic flight services.He along with his family boarded the flight which took off from from here for Hyderabad.Raipur Superintendent of Police Arif Sheikh and city municipal commissioner Saurabh Kumar were at the airport to monitor the arrangements for medical screening of passengers arriving here.The Raipur district administration has set up facilitation centres at the airport for registration and medical screening of passengers, a government official said.Thermal screening of all passengers is being carried out and if anyone shows symptoms of coronavirus, then the person will be immediately sent to an isolation kiosk at the airport where his samples will be collected for testing and he will then be sent to a state-operated isolation centre, he said.Passengers having no symptoms would be quarantined for 14 days at government quarantine centres, at home or paid quarantine facilities, as per their wish, he said.They will have to submit a written undertaking that they will strictly follow all quarantine rules for 14 days, he added.

Domestic air services resume; flight from Del lands in Raipur

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