MANGALURU: A day after Adani Group took over Mangaluru International Airport (AAI), a group of six people missed their flight to Dubai on November 1, because airport authorities suspected the authenticity of their Covid-19 test reports. Ismail Nagar told TNIE that they were eager to return to Dubai where they work as labourers, after being stuck in their native town of Bhatkal.
However, he was shocked when airport officials refused to give them boarding passes, calling their Covid-19 test reports - issued by Karwar Institute of Medical Sciences - ‘fake’. This was because the Covid War app which the airport uses, showed their results as “under process”.
The group tried convincing officials that their negative results were authentic, but to no avail and had to frantically call health authorities in Karwar. They finally managed to get a government official to talk to the airport officials, but they were unmoved. Finally, their flight took off without them. Ismail Nagar said they suffered for no fault of theirs. “We spent Rs 9,000 each on the ticket. With no work for the last six months, we borrowed money to get to Dubai,” he said.
Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner Dr Harish Kumar said that while the Covid results on the ICMR portal are the legal standard, the airport authorities insisted that it should reflect on the Covid War app. “The Covid war app fetches results from the ICMR portal. There may be a delay in the results reflecting on the app. They could have accessed the results from the ICMR portal using Specimen Referral Form numbers,” he said.
The change in management was also a reason for the confusion. “Earlier, we knew people and could contact them directly. Now, even though we contacted airport authorities, nothing could be done,” Kumar said. The issue has now been resolved through Dakshina Kannada DC K V Rajendra. The airport is now accepting results on the ICMR portal.