1000s from Mumbai come to UP without screening

 In what can be termed as a major security lapse, the Yogi Adityanath government, on Sunday, allowed over 3,500 passengers who had come by train from Mumbai, to proceed on their onward journey without asking them to quarantine themselves.

The Pushpak Express and Lokmanya Tilak Express brought thousands of passengers from Mumbai and other districts of Maharashtra.

All of them are residents of UP, working in Maharashtra and had returned home after the lockdown.

Ravi Yadav, who works as a driver in Mumbai, said he had decided to return home in Gonda district because he could not afford to survive on his resources in the metro city without work.

The UP-state transport department was informed on Saturday evening that buses may be need to ferry the passengers from Mumbai.

UPSRTC managing director Raj Shekhar said that he had made arrangements for about 120 buses but the number of passengers was much more.

Scenes at the railway station showed that passengers were desperate to reach their home and many managed to enter the buses through the windows.

Meanwhile, a senior doctor at the KGMU where most of the Corona patients are being treated, said, "This is blasphemous. So much hue and cry has been made over Kanika Kapoor defying safety protocols and now there are thousands who have got in without any screening. They should have been, at least, asked to remain quarantined. The problem is that it is difficult to track these people who could be carriers."

Government officials were tight-lipped on the issue. IANS