COVID-19 Lockdown: Eyebrows Raised Over Grounding Of Two Foreign Chartered Flights In Rourkela

Rourkela: While the Centre has declared a 21-day nationwide lockdown in the country in the wake of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the grounding of two foreign chartered flights at Rourkela airport has raised doubts among the people of the steel city here.

Asked about the matter, the authorities of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) said the Geological Survey of India (GSI) had engaged a company for mining survey in Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh West Bengal for which the company had hired two chartered aircrafts from New Zealand.

While one chartered aircraft landed at Rourkela airport on March 19, the other landed the next day. However, the crew and staff of the two chartered flights returned to New Zealand after the Centre announced a nationwide lockdown.

The RSP authorities also said that that they have informed the district administration about the medical test of the crew and staff of the two chartered flights at the Ispat General Hospital (IGH) and all of them have been tested negative.

However, they refused to comment on why the aircraft crew left the two foreign chartered flights at the airport.