No flights to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahd from July 6 to July 19
The Central Government has suspended flights linking Kolkata’s NSI Airport to six hotspot cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur in Maharashtra, Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Ahmedabad in Gujarat following a request from Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
A statement issued by the airport authorities said, “It is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad from July 6 to July 19, 2020 or till further order whichever is earlier.”
According to sources, the order was circulated by the airport slot allocation team following directives from the Aviation Ministry.
Earlier, the State Government had requested the Centre to suspend flights to and from these cities following which a letter from the State Chief Secretary was sent to the Aviation Ministry. It said, “West Bengal is also witnessing a steep rise in cases. A large number of cases have been reported from people coming in the State from outside with infection. The Government of West Bengal has decided to stop or curtail the movement of incoming flights and trains into the State.”
The Chief Minister too had told the media “though our recovery rate at more than 65 per cent is higher than the national rate we have problems with the infected people coming from outside, particularly the hotspot areas … I have asked the Chief Secretary to write to the Centre about suspending flights from the highly affected regions.”
She, however, said that “the flights connecting the cities in Bengal and those to States where the crisis is not that deep can be carried on.”
While Bengal has a total of about 21,000 cases, out of which 6,200 are still active, Maharashtra with a total of 1,92,990 confirmed cases is the worst-hit State in the country. Tamil Nadu has 1,02,721 cases whereas Delhi is at third spot with about 95,000 cases. Gujarat has registered about 34,600 infections.