Bengal Wants No Incoming Flight From 8 Cities From July 6 For 2 Weeks

The West Bengal government has requested the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation to not schedule any flight to the state from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat for two weeks starting July 6 as the coronavirus outbreak in those cities continue to worsen. The Bengal government has also decided to stop or curtail movement of incoming flights and trains as COVID-19 cases have touched 17,907.

In a letter to PS Kharola, Civil Aviation Secretary, Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha wrote: "A large number of cases has been reported from people coming in the state from outside with infection... I approach you with a request kindly not to schedule any flight to West Bengal from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat and to stop movement of flights from these cities to Kolkata or Bagdogra for 2 weeks starting July 6, 2020 (sic)." 

Sinha further requested the Ministry to restrict the number of flights to Kolkata, Bagdogra (in north Bengal's Siliguri) and Andal (in Paschim Bardhaman district) from other cities to a frequency of once a week for each airline starting July 6 till July 31.

Nod to relax norms for Kolkata Metro

Furthermore, the Chief Secretary has also written to Union Home Secretary, Ajay Bhalla, requesting the Ministry of Home Affairs' nod to relax norms for Kolkata for running a bare minimum number of Metro rail to ferry people associated with essential services as a very special case. He said state officials have discussed the matter with Kolkata Metro authorities and will ensure strict enforcement of social distancing and hygiene guidelines of the Centre as and when the services start.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "Today Chief Secretary has written letters to Union Home Secretary regarding metro and flight services. Like international flights have been stopped till July 15 we requested restriction of domestic flights from hotspots and to start metro for people engaged in essential services."

The Ministry of Civil Aviation had restarted domestic passenger services from May 25, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. On June 26, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation extended the suspension of international passenger flight operations till July 15.

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