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The hours commercial passenger flights have been suspended since 25 March when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to slow the coronavirus of the pandemic. Both flights were operated by IndiGo today in the morning. While the Delhi-Pune flight was scheduled to leave at 4.45 in the morning, the Mumbai-Patna flight departed at 6.45 in the morning. It was announced last Thursday that one-third of pre-lock security of the domestic flights will operate from Monday. All the regular international commercial passenger flights remain suspended. As India resumed flights in a gradual manner, hundreds of people reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport of Delhi take early morning flights to their places of origin and places of work. Those who took the first flight including paramilitary personnel, army men, students, and migrants, who could not book a ticket on the special trains run by the railroads.
Many said that shelling out more to get to the airport, since there were limited public transport options available. With trains full-and inter-state buses remaining off the roads, Sandeep Singh, 19 years, spent Rs 5,500 to reach Delhi from Dehradun where she is studying. “I got stuck in my PG. Mom and dad were a big concern. I am taking the first flight home,” he said.
Aamir Afzal, a mechanical engineer from Patna, who had come to new Delhi on an official visit on the 23rd of March, was one of those who took flight to celebrate the Eid with family and friends. “I had been staying in a hotel in Mahipalpur with my coworker. The hotel charged us Rs 900 per day. We could not get a confirmed ticket in a train back home,” he said. Due to the smaller number of trains, the tickets will sell 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 that he was happy that he would be able to join his family in Bihar’s Begusarai district on Eid. “But it will be a mute issue as so many people homeless and hungry migrants who cannot afford the luxury of travel by train or flight are still stuck in various parts of the country. It is not a costume to celebrate the festival in such circumstances,” he said.
A couple of people have traveled long distances only to find that his flight had been canceled. Naik Satish Kumar Calcutta-bound flight got cancel the state decided not to resume operations until May 28. “I have traveled all the way from Ambala in a bus to take a 6-am flight to Calcutta. When I came here, I got to know the flight had been canceled. I’m going to go home now,” he said.
Excited to meet their two year old daughter, Santu Mandal, a resident of West Bengal Bardhaman district, came to the airport, along with the brother, Nasiruddin Mandal, at 1 am, aware that the flight to Kolkata had been cancelled. The Mandal brothers, involved in the hand-embroidered, spent 12,000 Rs to book the tickets “because we could not get a confirmed train ticket”.
This is the first time Sudhir Kumar will be on a plane. The Army personnel posted in Punjab’s Bhatinda district, says that he never considered taking a flight home before, because the journey by train is comfortable and cheap. But the trains are full already, he said.
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