Chaos breaks in Airport after a passenger refuses to undergo mandatory test; "FIR lodged"

Since April 2021, anybody arriving at Silchar by air has to go through mandatory Covid testing at the nearby Model Hospital in Tikal situated at Salganga. A dedicated bus has also been arranged too for the purpose of escorting all the passengers from the Silchar Airport to the testing centre at Tikal. But today morning, a ruckus broke at the Silchar Kumbhirgram Airport between a passenger and the airport authority regarding the mandatory Covid testing, which resulted in a scuffle where the passenger refused to participate in the Covid screening.

Abdul Qayyum, hailing from the Asimganj area of Karimganj district, arrived at Silchar today by air. While exiting from the airport premises, he was required by the existing protocols to go through the mandatory Covid test or furnish a vaccination certificate. For this, he was supposed to board the bus from the airport to take the passengers to the Tikal Model hospital at Salganga. But Abdul Qayyum protested severely by refusing to board the bus and trying to leave the airport on his own. During the altercation with the staff responsible for ensuring the Covid testing procedure, Qayyum misbehaved with one staff named Premangshu Sheel and allegedly held him by his collar at one point. As things got heated up, the police arrived and intervened at the scene. Later, Premangshu Sheel filed an FIR at the Udharbond Police station against Abdul Quyyem under the sections of IPC and CrPC.

Premagshu Sheel is an Assistant Teacher at an LP school in Udharbond, who has been deployed at the Silchar Kumbhirgram Airport, along with many others, for overseeing the Covid screening procedure there for the arriving passengers.

“We’ve been working here since April of this year in accordance with the government protocols, to serve the country. Apart from being an Assistant Teacher, I also happen to be the General Secretary of the Udharbond Circle Elementary TET Qualified Teachers’ Association. Since the first days of working here, we’ve been subjected to regular abuse and harassment of all sorts from the incoming passengers, which put our lives at risk. Almost every day, we’ve to go through such instances where the passengers refuse to comply with the Covid protocols and resort to verbal as well as physical abuse, for which we stand totally defenceless. We’ve been appealing to the state government to at least provide us with some security so that during such altercations, we can defend ourselves. Today, my collar was snatched, was abused and my ID card got torn as well. Tomorrow, such instance could very well end up injuring any one of us”, said Premangshu Sheel, while talking to the media.

Premangshu and all the other staff demanded that if the government or the administration fails to intervene in this issue by providing them with the security of any form, they’ll be forced to resign from their duties soon. Regarding today’s incident, he has filed an FIR at the Udharbond PS demanding immediate arrest of the culprit.

“That person has refused to obey the SOP issued by the administration and also tore my ID card issued by the DDMA Cachar. He attacked me physically by pulling my collar, which is a serious offence. We want immediate arrest of the apprehended and appeal for justice to the administration so that such instance never repeat in the coming days,” said Premangshu Sheel.