News Desk: Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a GMR Group-led consortium, on Friday announced that it has developed a first-of-its-kind portal. The portal allows India-bound international arriving flyers to fill the mandatory self-declaration form and also apply online for exemption from mandatory institution quarantine process.
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. As per the MoCA guidelines, all the international arriving passengers can avail of this facility from August 8, 2020.
This will help in making passengers’ journeys 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 an air bubble with several countries, the number of international arrivals is likely to go up. Then, this new online self-declaration & 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 a 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 the 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 the Airport Health Organization (APHO), under the 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, Suffered a death in the family, Suffering 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 authorize exemptions from institutional quarantine for five specific categories on a case-to-case basis.
As per the current government mandate, all passengers arriving by international flights in India must undergo seven days of 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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