The Punjab Government has set up a Facilitation Centre at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi, to help Punjabis

Chandigarh: The Punjab Government has set up a Facilitation Centre at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi, to help Punjabis coming back on the special flights from abroad return to their respective districts in the state where they will have remain in institutional quarantine.

Disclosing this on Wednesday, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said transport facility has been arranged at the Centre to ensure the comfortable return of stranded Punjabis and NRIs to their home districts, where they will be required to stay in quarantine for 14 days and will also be tested for Covid.

PhotoThose found negative would be sent home for another two weeks of self-quarantine while those who test positive will be shifted to isolation centres for care/treatment.

With 20000 stranded Punjabis and NRIs are expected to return home under the Vande Bharat Mission, many of them by flights arriving in New Delhi, the Facilitation Centre would ensure seamless coordination, without chaos or confusion, said the Chief Minister.

Coordinators have also been appointed in various countries to ensure the safe return of those who had registered for return to their native place in Punjab, on the lines of the Nodal Officers appointed by his government to facilitate the to and fro movement of migrants via the special Shramik Trains, he added.

Punjab government

Elaborate arrangements have been made to quarantine these people in hotels in the concerned districts, and free quarantine facility would be given to those students or immigrants who cannot afford the cost of hotels, Punjab NRIs Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi said.

Rahul Bhandari, Secretary, NRIs Affairs said that the Facilitation Centre at IGIA is working 24 hours a day. While one flight arrived in Amritsar from USA yesterday, several more are expected to bring Punjabis/NRIs at New Delhi and Amritsar next week.

The Facilitation Centre is coordinating with the State Transport Department to enable smooth and timely services for taking the returnees back to their home districts in Punjab, he said.