PALAKKAD/WALAYAR/T’PURAM/KOLLAM: As many as 3,142 people entered the state as the border checkposts witnessed heavy rush on the second day of entry permission granted to Malayalis stranded in neighbouring states on Tuesday. While the teething troubles in issuing travel passes were more or less sorted out, there was utter confusion at the Kaliyakkavila border, at least. At the same time, the Wayanad district administration decided to allot entry passes to 1,000 persons, instead of 400 now, from Friday.
As many as 2,574 people and 1,132 vehicles entered the state from Tamil Nadu through the Walayar checkpost till 8pm. “Since most of the district collectors in the state had approved the passes sought by persons from other states through the Covid Jagratha website, there was a good flow of people through Walayar on Tuesday,” said Amruthavalli, deputy tahsildar and executive magistrate at the checkpost.
“No case of high temperature was recorded, but one person suffered a heart attack. The person had arrived with five others and was sitting at the bus stand located near the checkpost. He seemed to have not eaten anything and fell unconscious. He was administered injection and provided oxygen. He was taken in an 108 ambulance to the district hospital and admitted in the ICU,” said Dr Rachana Chidambaram, district programme coordinator of the National Health Mission.
Chaos at Kaliyakkavila
However, things were not as smooth at the Kaliyakkavila border, as over 30 Keralites returning to the state were stopped by Tamil Nadu police in the morning despite them carrying the NORKA passes. They did not carry the electronic passes issued by the Tamil Nadu government. As many as 167 Keralites returned to the state from Tamil Nadu through the border during the day.
In the morning, however, passengers, including women, children and elderly people, were stranded at the border checkpost for over six hours. All of them were only allowed to cross the border after Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari district collectors and Parassala MLA C K Hareendran intervened. Tamil Nadu police made it clear that the relaxation was only for Tuesday and that there would be strict checking from Wednesday.
“Most of us had registered on the NORKA website for the 7am to 10am travel slot. This also included medical emergency cases. But Tamil Nadu police were adamant and we had to wait there for many hours. When I tried to open the Tamil Nadu government website, it was down. When two passengers received phone numbers following persistent efforts to open the website, police did not allow them,” said Sandeep S of Enchakkal, who is working in Tamil Nadu.
126 cross Aryankavu border
As many as 126 people entered the state from Tamil Nadu in 59 vehicles through the district border at Aryankavu in Kollam district till 6pm on Tuesday. The Keralites who had registered on the website of Norka and secured vehicle passes issued from Sunday evening started reaching the border checkpost since morning.
“Of the 126 persons, 19 had not registered on the Norka website. But they were allowed to enter after digital passes were issued by the district collector, which was a time-consuming task,” said tahsildar Anil Philip, the Covid-19 nodal officer at Aryankavu checkpost.“As people who were screened on Tuesday did not show any symptoms of Covid-19, they were allowed to leave the checkposts with the directive to go into home quarantine,” said Anil.
275 enter through Muthanga
As many as 275 persons and 199 vehicles entered the state through the checkpost at Muthanga.
The Wayanad district administration has decided to permit 1,000 Keralites to enter the state per day through the checkpost from neighbouring states from Friday, instead of 400 now. The decision was taken at a meeting convened by transport minister A K Saseendran on Tuesday. As part of the move, additional facility will be made available at the mini health centre at Muthanga for conducting health screening of people arriving from other states. For the purpose, number of inspection counters would be increased to 10. In addition, more staff will also be deployed at the counters.