TN to house incoming train passengers at quarantine centres

The Tamil Nadu government will take care of the accommodation of over 1,000 passengers who will be reaching here by Rajdhani Express, said an official of Greater Chennai Corporation.

Speaking to IANS on the condition of anonymity, the official said the train passengers will be taken care of by the Corporation like it does in the case of passengers flying in from overseas.

A senior official of Southern Railway also confirmed the same to IANS.

The issue of who will house the incoming passengers came up after the Tamil Nadu government in a statement said Chief Minister K. Palaniswami had written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal regarding this. Palanswami said all train passengers to Chennai would have to the tested for coronavirus.

As it was not possible to test around 1,000 passengers, the railways would have to quarantine them and the state government would take the samples in a day or two, the statement said.

Soon after the test results, the state government will take coronavirus positive persons to hospital and others to quarantine centres.

Meanwhile, a top level coordination meeting between the officials of Southern Railway and Corporation was held on Wednesday.

As per the current understanding between the two bodies, Southern Railway will take care of the thermal screening of the passengers.

After that the Corporation will take the passengers to quarantine facilities --government operated or to hotels for a fee.

The city Corporation has created quarantine facilities at various places which are free for quarantined people. The Corporation has also tied with several hotels for quarantining incoming passengers - foreign or domestic.

The official said the room inventory is about 7,000 and those who opt to stay in hotel rooms will have to pay a daily tariff of not more than Rs 2,500 which is inclusive of food.