VELLORE: Tamil Nadu ambulances blocked at an inter-State border checkpost at Balasore in Odisha were allowed to pass while cabs, which were also ferrying patients to different destinations in West Bengal, were still detained.
“Sixty ambulances, from different states, were allowed to go back through the Balasore toll plaza on Friday night,” said Ajamal, a stranded cab driver. About 20 ambulances were from Tamil Nadu, he added. However, cabs were not allowed to pass through the inter-State toll plaza. “As many as 60 cabs, most of them from Vellore, have still been detained,” the cab driver, hailing from Arcot in Ranipet district, stated.
The officials at the toll plaza had told them that they had not received any instructions on allowing the cab operators to move back home. The cab operators from Vellore had taken patients, who visited the CMC Hospital for treatment, back to their native towns in West Bengal, after getting duly attested passes for vehicle operation. After dropping them at border areas in West Bengal, they were returning through the toll plaza at Balasore, where they were detained by the police. They had been stranded since 21 April. Vellore MP DM Kathir Anand took up the issue with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, yet the cab operators were not allowed to return.