Tripura: 129 citizens stuck in Bangladesh return home via Akhaura Checkpost

Guwahati: 129 persons from Tripura who were stuck in Bangladesh finally heaved a sigh of relief they finally returned to India today following an official nod by the Government. The Akhaura checkpost in Tripura, Sutarkandi in Assam and Dawki in Meghalaya were opened to facilitate the return of stranded citizens today.

Meanwhile, some of the Tripura returnees have complained that there are not adequate Covid-19 testing facilities in the neighboring country are not adequate and they were only subjected to thermal screenings at the border outpost.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das and Tripura West MP Pratima Bhowmick were present to facilitate the movement of stranded people. Talking to media, Bhowmik said that 100% testing will be done for those persons who are coming in from the hotspot zones in the neighbouring country. Bhowmik said that swab samples of all the 129 people will be collected and all of them will be put in institutional quarantine for 7 days. "Since they are coming from Bangladesh which is right now considered to be one of the worst-hit countries, we shall take no chances", Bhowmik added.

At the same time, 124 Northeast Indians (120 from Assam and 24 from Manipur) who were stranded in neighbouring Bangladesh amid the coronavirus-triggered lockdown were brought back via the Sutarkandi international border in Assam.

"People from 18 districts are coming in via the route; twenty four persons are from Manipur and they are mainly students and tourists. The Government has opened up the border for two hours", an official overseeing the transfer told mediapersons."The persons will be taken to their districts and officers have come with their own escorts to take them back. They will undergo thermal screening here, and the rest of the formalities will be done in their own districts", he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that the international borders were closed down after the Government announced a lockdown to mitigate the crisis triggered by the outbreak of the coronavirus. Of late, the Government has laxed some of the restrictions to facilitate the movement of persons who have been stuck in foreign lands ever since the extended lockdown came into effect.

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