It was a nightmare that they would never forget in their life. Jaison and his wife Praveena, two IT professionals who work in Bengaluru, had to languish nearly16 hours at Madhur and Muthanga checkpoints on the Kerala-Karnataka border as they made a frantic attempt to reach their home State after the State and Central governments announced a lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. And finally, they ended up at a COVID care centre at Sulthan Bathery for 21-day quarantine.
They were among the 300-odd Keralites, including students, from Bengaluru and Mysuru in Karnataka who had made a panic run to their home State in cars and bikes after the lockdown announcement, Mr. Jaison said.
“The uncertainty over the availability of provisions made us run to the home State,” he said.
“We learned from our friends that many supermarkets were on the verge of shutdown owing to the shortage of food items, including rice and vegetables. Drinking water supply was nearly stopped in suburbs such as K.R. Puram and Ramamurthy Nagar after the Karnataka government imposed a curfew-like lockdown three days ago,” he said. All Malayali paying guests, including students, in the areas were directed to leave their residences, worsening the situation further, he said.
“When we reached at the Madhur checkpoint in Karnataka around 1.30 a.m., there were more than 200 travellers awaiting the permission of Karnataka government officials to cross the border. As usual, we thought that officials would allow us to continue our journey after the night traffic ban period from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m,” he said. Though they waited there till 9 a.m., officials did not allow them to cross the border as prohibition orders had been clamped on both the States.
Another nightmare
Finally, officials granted permission around 9.45 a.m. and they continued their journey. When they reached the Muthanga checkpoint in the State around 10.15 a.m, after travelling 18 km through the Bandipur tiger reserve in Karnataka and the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, another ordeal was awaiting for them. “Though a few travellers among us could cross the checkpoint without any difficulty, latecomers got stranded for around seven hours there without food and basic facilities as officials took a rigid stance,” he said. Later, the district administration and the police provided them lunch and they were shifted to the care centre at Sulthan Bathery around 3.45 p.m.
Those who left the checkpoint earlier were also brought to the centres, District Collector Adeela Abdulla said. The district administration would be forced to send back travellers from other States from Thursday owing to the dearth of healthcare facilities in the district, she said.
