'Home quarantine' sans tests arbitrary: Cabbies

Hyderabad: In a worrying sign, it is learnt that in the last one week at least 40 cab drivers were reportedly stamped for 'Home Quarantine' of 28 days by the authorities, following their return to the city after dropping passengers.

The drivers did not show up any kind of Covid-19 symptoms nor were they tested upon arrival.

Speaking to The Hans India, D Bixapathi Nayak, a driver based in Uppal, said on his return from from AP, he was stamped without being tested recently.

"I was returning to the city after dropping a passenger and the officials at a checkpost recorded my details. As soon as I reached home, I was shocked that a medical team was waiting for me and without testing they stamped me for a period of 28 days of home quarantine. I had neither cold nor fever, which are symptoms of Covid-19," he said.

Nayak said there are thousands of taxi drivers who are already affected by lockdown and struggling for survival. Somehow drivers are working under emergency situations with prior permissions. "Who will feed my family, if I continue to stay at home for 28 days?," he added.

Meanwhile, some political parties and even media started seeking response from authorities on Twitter, but of no avail. AIMIM's Amirullah Khan on Sunday tweeted, marking DGP and KTR, "Why the police was using Home Quarantine stamp forcefully on Taxi Drivers.

They are also COVIDwarriors and Heroes like you battling the pandemic. If the temperature was normal, then why they were being stamped?"

According to Indian Federation of App Based Transport Workers, there have been at least 40 cases within a week where drivers were stamped after entering the city after safely dropping passengers.

The federation held that they were adhering to all norms after receiving 'emergency passes,' which is valid for a day. Stamping 'Home Quarantine' is a precautionary measure to contain Novel Coronavirus, but without conducting any test or identifying symptoms, the drivers are facing a new kind of harassment.

Ironically, the passengers who are leaving city are first tested and only after they are found negative that they are being allowed to leave, they pointed out.