Bengaluru: About 19 passengers, who refused to undergo the 14-day institutional quarantine in the city after arriving in a special train earlier in the day, opted to go back to New Delhi in the return train.
"An extra AC 3-tier coach has been attached to the special train (#02691) to take back about 19 passengers who refused the mandatory 14-day quarantining on returning to the city after being stranded in Delhi for over 50 days due to the lockdown and suspension of train services," Bengaluru railway divisional manager AK Verma told media.
After persuasion and discussion by senior officers of state Govt, Police and Railways , majority of them have proceeded to said quarantine.
Though initially, about 140 returnees wanted to go back to Delhi by the night train, over 100 of them withdrew later and reconciled to undergo the mandatory quarantine, as about 543 returnees did during the day, albeit very reluctantly.
Out of these 543 persons about 20 were on transit to other states and left by Road to Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
"Sending the passengers unwilling for quarantining in the return train was decided by the Karnataka government in consultation with the Railway Police Force (RPF), as they cannot go home for the next 14 days and to avoid a law and order problem in the station, as many of them resorted to protests in the station since they arrived earlier in the day," said Verma.