This story is from February 26, 2021

Covid negative report, the new visa for state’s MP travellers

Covid negative report, the new visa for state’s MP travellers
Nagpur: At Saikheda — the entry point into Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh (MP) — a Covid-negative report is the visa for travellers from Maharashtra to enter.
A youngster pleaded to be allowed to go to a village just 25km away to meet a relative, but the cops at the check post did not relent. “You can ask them to come here and talk,” said a policeman.

On Friday, the second day of travel curbs from Maharashtra to MP, policemen stood right in the middle of the road, unmindful of the sun. They ensured that each vehicle was stopped and questioned.
“Kahan se ho (where are your from),” the officer in-charge asked the passengers in each vehicle. If the answer was Maharashtra, they were asked to produce a Covid-negative certificate.
Among neighbouring districts, this rule is only being followed in Chhindwara. As inquired by TOI, rest of the districts bordering Vidarbha are only doing thermal scanning. Seoni, the other district bordering Nagpur, has only thermal scanning rule, said Sonal Maravi, the sub-divisional magistrate there.
“I understand the issue, but we are helpless as there are orders,” said the officer at Saikheda. Pleas of attending relatives’ funeral just a few kilometres inside the border, or any other urgent work like seeing a doctor were turned down.

The only choice the travellers had was to return to Saoner, 22 kms away in Maharashtra, to get a rapid antigen test (RAT) done and then enter MP.
The officer showed a part of the order, which reads that travellers need to submit a Covid-negative report.
Their place of residence is confirmed by checking documents like Aadhaar card. Those living in MP are allowed to pass after thermal screening. TOI spent over a couple of hours at Saikheda border to witness the scene.
“The order came on Wednesday evening. We are here since 7am today,” said the officer.
By 3:30pm, around 450 vehicles had reached the Saikheda border. More than half of them were returned for not having a Covid-negative certificate, said the personnel deployed there.
However, only small vehicles like two-wheelers, cars and SUVs were stopped. As a bus passed, a policeman said, “The order says only small vehicles, so we are not stopping the trucks or buses.”
Laxmi Jha, a resident of Manish Nagar in the city, tried hard to convince the policemen but in vain. “I had an appointment with an ayurvedic doctor in Chhindwara. Today was the second sitting, but they are not allowing us. The treatment has helped me avoid a surgery,” she said, but had to return.
Manoj Pethkar from Akola, who came with an elderly woman suffering a paralytic attack was allowed only with one companion in his van. The rest were asked to get down and wait till they returned, a cop said. The group had to go close by only.
One Aqeel Khan and his family had to go to Betul to attend a funeral but were stopped. Another family wanting to attend a burial in Chhindwara was stopped.
Finally, one of the travellers, Yogesh Lalwani, returned with a negative certificate after getting rapid antigen test done at Saoner. He was heading for Bhopal with family. The tests could be done at the government centres.
Those living in Maharashtra but working in MP could go if they showed their ID cards or their employer sent a card or undertaking on phone. Farmers having land close by on either side were allowed free passage too, said sources.
An airlines employee Roy Weston from Nagpur was biking to Bhopal, where he works. He flashed his card and was allowed to go.
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