BENGALURU: A lack of awareness of quarantine rules and unwarranted panic led to the authorities making a woman alight from the Bengaluru-Belagavi train, at Tumakuru on Monday.
The woman, Alka Gandhi, had her two children with her.
She had returned to Bengaluru from Nagpur, and boarded a train to Belagavi, when railway authorities and police forcibly brought her back to Bengaluru, suspecting her of violating quarantine norms.
Later, she was allowed to board another train to Belagavi.
The episode was the result of an alarm raised by a co-passenger in D2 coach of the Bengaluru City-Belagavi Triweekly special launched recently. Alka (38), a resident of Vinayaka Nagar in Gadag, was travelling with her 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter when the co-passenger raised a hue and cry, and high drama ensued, railway sources said.
Alka told TNIE, “I alighted at KSR Station from Nagpur early Monday morning. I told railway authorities there I had to go to my hometown, Gadag. They put a stamp on my hand and allowed me to travel by the 8 am special train. They also told me I would be quarantined when I reached Gadag. I agreed to undergo quarantine.”
The stamp on her hand says ‘Transit Passenger’; it means that anyone in transit is permitted to travel to their destination, according to state rules.
However, the TTE deboarded her at Tumakuru at 10.30 am, and the family was handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP), the source said.
“They were later put on a special ‘Workmen Special’ train and brought from Tumakuru to Yesvantpur,” he added.
The woman’s relatives rushed to Yesvantpur station and convinced authorities about the genuineness of her case.
Finally, they relented and permitted the family to travel. Top railway officials in Bengaluru claimed they did not know about the issue.