As India resumed domestic passenger flights in a graded
manner on Monday, hundreds of people reached the Indira Gandhi International
Airport in New Delhi to take early morning flights to their hometowns and
workplaces.
IMAGE: Passengers onboard Delhi-Bhubaneswar Vistara
flight seen wearing face shields. Photograph: ANI
Flight operations remained
shut for two months owing to the nationwide lockdown necessitated by the
coronavirus pandemic.
Those
who took first flights included paramilitary personnel, army men, students and
migrants, who failed to book a ticket on special trains being run by the
railways.
Many
said they shelled out more to reach the airport as there were limited public
transport options available.
With
trains running full and inter-state buses remaining off the roads, Sandeep
Singh, 19, spent Rs 5,500 to reach Delhi from Dehradun where he studies.
"I
remained stuck in my PG. Mummy and papa were a worried lot. I am taking the
first flight home," he said.
Aamir
Afzal, a mechanical engineer from Patna, who had come to Delhi on an official
visit on March 23, was among those who took the flights to celebrate Eid with
family and friends.
“I
had been staying in a hotel in Mahipalpur with my co-worker. The hotel charged
us Rs 900 per day. We could not get a confirmed ticket on a train back home,”
he said.
IMAGE: A long queue of passengers outside Delhi
airport's Terminal-3 . Photograph: ANI
Due to the lesser number of
trains, the tickets get sold out within 5-10 minutes. It is difficult for a
person to book a ticket using a mobile phone, Afzal said.
Afzal's friend Rahid Ali
said he was happy he would be able to join his family in Bihar's Begusarai
district on Eid.
“But it will be a muted
affair as so many homeless and hungry migrants who cannot afford to travel on
train or flight are still stuck in various parts of the country. It doesn't
suit one to celebrate the festival in such circumstances,” he said.
IMAGE: Flight crew wear personal protective
equipment. Photograph: ANI
A few people travelled long
distances only to find that their flights had been cancelled.
Naik Satish Kumar's
Kolkata-bound flight got cancelled as the state decided not to resume
operations till May 28.
“I travelled all the way
from Ambala on a bus to take a 6-am flight to Kolkata. When I reached here, I
got to know the flight had been cancelled. I am returning home now,” he said.
Excited to meet his
two-year-old daughter, Santu Mandal, a resident of West Bengal's Bardhaman
district, reached the airport along with brother, Nasiruddin Mandal, at 1 am,
unaware that the flight to Kolkata had been cancelled.
IMAGE: Thermal screening of passengers being done
before their entry into Kempegowda International airport in Bengaluru. Photograph:
ANI
The Mandal brothers,
engaged in hand embroidery, spent Rs 12,000 to book the tickets “because we
could not get a confirmed train ticket”.
It is the first time Sudhir
Kumar will be on a plane.
The Army personnel posted
in Punjab's Bhatinda district says he never considered taking a flight home
earlier as train travel is convenient and cheap.
But trains are full
already, he said.
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