A CORRESPONDENT
LAKHIMPUR: After more than two months, flight service to and from Lilabari Airport of Lakhimpur district resumed from Sunday. Notably, the flight service to and from the district, along with the other parts of the nation, was on halt since the midnight of March 24 as the Union Government suspended operations of all domestic flights from that midnight as part of the efforts exerted in order to control the spread of coronavirus contagion.
On Sunday, the first special flight of Air India, after the resumption of service, landed in Lilabari Airport at 4.05 pm carrying a total of eight passengers. Out of them, one passenger was a lady with a child. On the other hand, the special flight flew away from Lilabari Airport to Kolkata at 5.00 pm carrying only one passenger.
On the other hand, 10 passengers by the same flight of Air India arrived at Lilabari Airport from Kolkata on Monday while only one passenger departed from the district to Kolkata. On these two days, a total of 18 passengers arrived in the district by flight. On these two days, a total of 18 passengers arrived in the district by flight. On Tuesday, a total of 22 passengers came to Lakhimpur from Kolkata while only one passenger left for Kolkata from the district as per information from Airport Director Shivananda Benal. With these figures, a total of 40 passengers arrived in the district by flight till Tuesday.
The district administration and the Health department have made due arrangements in order to conduct the health screening of the incoming passengers. A team of medical personnel collected the throat swabs from the 40 incoming passengers and sent these to Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) for COVID-19 test. Then 38 passengers out of them were quarantined at COVID Care Centres (CCC) set up at Hotel Sharnaz and Hotel Century Grand while the lady passenger with child and a senior passenger, aged over 60 years, were sent to home quarantine as per guideline.
Notably, the district administration and the Health Department have set Hotel Sharnaz and Hotel Century Grand as CCC with general facilities while Hotel Maple Leaf has been set as CCC with paid facility for the intending flight passengers.