Karnataka government revises travelling norms for Maharashtra passengers

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Tuesday revised the travelling norms for the passengers coming from Maharashtra. As per the revised guidelines, the vaccinated passengers coming from Maharashtra to Karnataka or anyone who got at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, are now exempted from carrying a negative RT-PCR report and can show their vaccination certificate to enter the State.

It was mandated that travellers from Maharashtra need to show a negative RT-PCR certificate, not older than 72 hours, to enter Karnataka. Now, travellers coming to Karnataka by bus, train, taxi, personal transport, etc from Maharashtra will be granted entry if they have the proof that they have received at least one dose of any of the COVID-19 vaccines in India.

A statement released by government on Tuesday said: "Airlines shall issue boarding passes only to the passengers carrying RT-PCR negative certificates, not older than 72 hours or a vaccination certificate of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Railway authorities have been made responsible for ensuring that all passengers have the necessary documents as well. For all the passengers travelling by bus, the bus conductor shall ensure that the passengers possess RT-PCR negative certificates or vaccination certificates."

Deputy Commissioners of the districts bordering Maharashtra like Belagavi, Bidar and Vijayapura Kalaburagi have instructed to make arrangements to deploy necessary staff at checkpoints to ensure that all the vehicles entering Kamataka are checked for compliance with the above requirement.

"Those who are exempted from carrying a negative RT-PCR certificate are: Those who have a certificate of having received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine; constitutional functionaries and healthcare professionals; children below 2 years; and those in dire emergency situations (in case of a death in the family, medical treatment etc.).

In such cases of emergency, the passengers' swab shall be collected on arrival in Karnataka and their details like phone number, address etc. verified from their ID cards. On receipt of the RT-PCR test report, further action will be taken as per the state protocol," the statement further reads.