Now, Kollywood filmmaker Vetrimaaran had shared a similar humiliating experience at the Delhi airport in 2011.

During an interview with a magazine, he said, “We were returning to India after the screening of ‘Aadukalam’ in August 2011 at the Montreal Film Festival in Canada. An immigration official at Delhi airport spoke to me in Hindi and when I said that I didn’t know Hindi, the officer questioned how come I don’t know the ‘mother language of the country’. I told him that Tamil is my mother tongue and when I want to communicate with others I use English.”

After hearing out Vetrimaaran’s explanation the Delhi airport official became very angry and said, “You people are like this…You Tamils, Kashmiris are only breaking this country.”

Even after ‘Aadukalam’ producer Kathiresan and music composer GV Prakash intervened and told the official that Vetrimaaran was a National Award winner, the filmmaker was made to stand for 45 minutes.

“How can speaking my mother tongue disrupt the unity of the nation? How my mother tongue will hinder the development of the country,” questioned Vetrimaaran.

Director Vetrimaaran, who is celebrating his birthday today, is one of the most versatile directors in the country. He worked as an assistant under legendary director Balu Mahendra almost a decade, Vetrimaaran made his directorial debut with sleeper-hit ‘Polladhavan’ in 2007.

His 2011 blockbuster ‘Aadukalam’ went on to win six National Awards, including the ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Screenplay’.

His 2016 flick ‘Visaranai’ also had won three National Awards and was selected as India’s official entry at the 89th Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language.

His upcoming movie with Suriya is titled as ‘Vaadivasal’.

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The online forms have been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of External Affairs and Governments of various States and union territories, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttrakhand and Madhya Pradesh among others. According to the MoCA guidelines, this facility will be available for all international arriving passengers from August 8, 2020.

This will help in making passengers’ journey more convenient and comfortable in a contactless way as they won’t have to fill the physical copies of the forms on arrival. Delhi Airport continues to be a hub for international travel. With India establishing air bubble with several countries, the number of international arrivals is likely to go up. Then, this new online self-declaration and quarantine exemption portal will prove to be beneficial for the government officials in taking a swift and informed decision on granting exemption or know the latest health condition of the international arriving passenger.

Passengers seeking exemption under the five specific categories will need to fill the e-form available on the website of Delhi Airport “www.newdelhiairport.in”. They will have to submit it along with supporting documents, including copy of their passports, at least 72 hours before boarding their flights. However, there is no such time capping for passengers filling for the Self-Declaration form.

This process will help passengers avoid the hassle of providing the same set of information and documents to different authorities multiple times as online portal has the smart option to autofill the second application using the previous application’s request number. All applications will get auto-routed to the respective state government depending upon the first port of arrival. Similarly, all self-declaration applications will be routed to Airport Health Organisation (APHO), under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

A copy of approval or rejection of exemption requests on specific grounds will be emailed to the passengers. Those who would be given exemption from mandatory institutional quarantine can show the same at the transfer area after landing at Delhi Airport, and walk out of the airport hassle-free. This process would not only help the flyers, who can seek exemptions, but also the authorities in completing the requisite formalities faster, and reduce congestions at the arrival hall of the Airports.

Passengers would be considered for exemption only if they fall under any one of the five exempted categories – Pregnant women, People whose kin died recently, people from serious illness (Description to be provided), parents accompanied by children below 10 years and COVID-19 negative in recent RT-PCR test.  Airlines may also notify passengers at the time of reservation that the receiving Indian State Government(s) may authorise exemptions from institutional quarantine for five specific categories on a case-to-case basis.

Commenting on this development,. Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO-DIAL, said “COVID-19 has certainly changed the way Delhi Airport operates. The focus of our activities remains on the safety and convenience of our passengers. Keeping in view the inconvenience faced by arriving international passengers during this pandemic situation, Delhi Airport has associated with the Government of India to take an initiative that is crucial for the well-being of all international arriving passengers, who are waiting to come back to India. Having an approved exemption form will not only ease the quarantine process, but also mitigate the problem of inordinate delay while queuing up for quarantine process. Further, passengers can also avoid the hassle of the filling physical copies of the self-declaration twice.”

Ms Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA, appreciated the Delhi Airport’s initiative and said, “It’s been a while since international repatriation service resumed in India. Passengers are planning to travel for various reasons on limited international flights during the pandemic. MoCA appreciates Delhi Airport’s contribution in helping digitise and streamline this process of health self-declaration and exempting passengers. E-platform prepared by DIAL would be used by all airports in the country and help the States/ health authorities to fast track the process of clearances for international arrivals. This will further facilitate to scale up the number of flights handled at Indian airports.”

According to the current government mandate, all passengers arriving by international flights in India must undergo seven days institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by seven days of home quarantine. It is mandatory for international arriving passengers to undergo health screening by APHO. This includes thermal temperature screening by discreetly mounted, highly accurate, mass screening cameras.

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