Bengal rider for evacuation flights

Bengal has asked the Centre to stop international evacuation flights to Calcutta unless it ensures passengers have booked paid quarantine facilities for themselves before boarding a flight, a move that follows instances of fliers heading home from the airport instead of a quarantine unit.

Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha raised the demand in a letter he sent to the civil aviation ministry on Friday. Earlier in the day, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the Centre would be asked to stop international evacuation flights from July 1.

Sources said Sinha mentioned in the letter that the Bengal government would withdraw the no-objection certificate for international evacuation flights if the ministry did not ensure that all passengers had booked hotels for paid quarantine before boarding a flight.