Out of quarantine, student looks 2000 km drive home, Rs 60,000 taxi bill

Jaisalmer: A group of Indian citizens evacuated from Iran arrive at the Indian Army Welfare Center at the Jaisalmer Military Station for their mandatory quarantine period following the coronavirus pandemic. (PTI)

Forty days after being airlifted from Covid-19 to Iran, two students who were quarantined in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan upon arrival were asked to make their own arrangements to return to their respective home cities. This, in the midst of the national blockade and the absence of any means of transportation.

Minhaj Alam, who is taking a master’s course at the Allahmed Tabatabai University in Tehran and was part of the evacuated group along with Kashmiri and Ladakh pilgrims, said the center authorities told him to arrange transportation to get home to the Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal, which is almost 2000 km from Jaisalmer.

Minhaj said that private taxi services require Rs 60,000 for the journey. “The Kashmiri pilgrims and students who returned with me are sent home, but they ask me to return alone. Why is this discrimination? I went to study in Iran in a fully funded scholarship program. I cannot afford to spend Rs 60,000 given the financial situation of my family. I hope the government makes some arrangements, “he said.

According to details released by Rajasthan’s additional chief health secretary, Rohit Kumar Singh, 457 evacuees from Iran who were quarantined Srinagar and Ladakh have been sent home at Army facilities in Jaisalmer in three batches in the past three days.

On Friday night, authorities in the Jaisalmer center informed Minhaj’s family that they would have to make arrangements for his return. “They clearly told us that it was easier for them to send him back to Iran or Srinagar,” said Alam’s brother Meeraj.

Mohammed, another student who returned with Minhaj, said his family in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar received a similar call from the quarantine center.

Minhaj has undergone four tests of Covid-19 since March 15 when he returned, and each of his results has been negative.

Defense spokesman Col Sombit Ghosh said the Army maintains and runs the quarantine centers, but that the movement of quarantined people in these places is decided by the Interior Ministry.

When asked about facilitating the return of those who completed their mandatory isolation at these centers, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Vasudha Gupta said she had no information about it.

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