Tweet 1:
Many media houses & big SM personalities hv written on plight of poor migrant workers in India who have been impacted by #COVID19 crisis & also have also shown NRIs in bad light. I'm writing a thread on our personal experience. We were NRI till a few days back.
Many media houses & big SM personalities hv written on plight of poor migrant workers in India who have been impacted by #COVID19 crisis & also have also shown NRIs in bad light. I'm writing a thread on our personal experience. We were NRI till a few days back.
2 I was living in USA for the last 6 years with my family on H1B visa. I was always determined to go back to India post my visa expiry, hence never bothered to get my Green Card filed. Fate: my visa was expiring by end of March, 2020. My tickets were booked for March 20th.
We landed in Delhi at 2 PM, 21st March 2020 & from there on, started my ordeal. Stood 15 hours, without food & water before finally completing screening process. I had declared the fact that I was diabetic, which I could have hidden. Hence I was ordered to be quarantined in Delhi
4.
My wife & kid were free to go, but they had already missed connecting flight to Kolkata & next day was #janatacurfewmarch22 so they stayed back with me. We were given an option of going to a free quarantine facility but were told facilities like TV, WiFi etc. would be absent.
My wife & kid were free to go, but they had already missed connecting flight to Kolkata & next day was #janatacurfewmarch22 so they stayed back with me. We were given an option of going to a free quarantine facility but were told facilities like TV, WiFi etc. would be absent.
5.
We were also told that if the need arises, we might have to share the room with some other persons/family. We were told it would be a matter of 3-5 days wherein I would be observed for symptoms & my sugar level checked from time to time & I'd be let go accordingly.
We were also told that if the need arises, we might have to share the room with some other persons/family. We were told it would be a matter of 3-5 days wherein I would be observed for symptoms & my sugar level checked from time to time & I'd be let go accordingly.
6.
So I decided to choose the paid option offered to us at a (supposed) subsidized rate of Rs 4,000 per day (wth TAX), which included food. We were to be put up at Holiday Inn, Aerocity, near airport. After reaching hotel, we got a rude shock.
So I decided to choose the paid option offered to us at a (supposed) subsidized rate of Rs 4,000 per day (wth TAX), which included food. We were to be put up at Holiday Inn, Aerocity, near airport. After reaching hotel, we got a rude shock.
7.
First; the room rate was automatically increased by Hotel authorities to Rs 4,500 per day (wth TAX). Second; we were told; in time, that quarantine would last for 14 days, not 3-5 days. Towards the end, test would be conducted & I would be discharged if it came back negative.
First; the room rate was automatically increased by Hotel authorities to Rs 4,500 per day (wth TAX). Second; we were told; in time, that quarantine would last for 14 days, not 3-5 days. Towards the end, test would be conducted & I would be discharged if it came back negative.
8 After 12 days, officials came from the govt hospital for the test. The test results were handed back to us on day 16 of the quarantine. Thankfully, it came back negative. Now, they were told that they could leave the hotel or stay back at @ 5,000 per day (w/o food)
9 Whole country was in #lockdown & we had no means to travel to Kolkata. We spoke to Hotel if a car can be arranged. They said it would be possible @ 1.3 Lac - Yes mind you - this was the rent to travel to kolkata, not to buy the car. We continued living there with no other optn.
10 Now, in all this while, no one from Delhi government even bothered about us, neither were we concerned about how we would travel to Kolkata. Not a single government official ever contacted us during our stay at the Holiday Inn, Aerocity in Delhi.
11 Thankfully we were able to establish contact with an old friend from USA, who was living in Mayur Vihar. He had a 1 RK flat for rent & the tenant was stuck in another city. He invited us over to live in that flat. So, we hired a car from hotel @ Rs 4,000 & shifted there.
12 The very night we reached, cops called up the owner of the flat & asked how he gave the flat to a family who had traveled from foreign land recently. Not satisfied with the answer, they came over at 12-30 AM, finally left after being shown the test reports.
13 We have spent over 2 lac rupees so far since March 21st & still have absolutely no clue of when me, my wife & my 10 year old daughter would be able to travel to Kolkata. There r many stranded people like us in India. We knew many are still staying at the same hotel.
14 We tried contacting both Govt of WB & Tripura, because I originally hail from Tripura. WB govt didn't reply. Office of Tripura CMO replied back giving us contact details of the caretaker at Tripura bhawan. We contacted, but that person offered him us assistance at all.
15 We often break down crying nowadays thinking I should've listened to my colleagues who had trying convincing me, settling in USA would be the right thing to do. I think I made a grave mistake coming back.
16 My ques to: @ArvindKejriwal @msisodia & also @AmitShah @PMOIndia @narendramodi @MamataOfficial @BjpBiplab
- Y this constant chest beating that u r doing a great job handling the crisis, whereas in reality u don't have any clue about the pain people r going thru?
- Y this constant chest beating that u r doing a great job handling the crisis, whereas in reality u don't have any clue about the pain people r going thru?
18 Also ques to @ndtv @IndiaToday @TimesNow @republic @aajtak @ZeeNews @thewire_in @scroll_in @ThePrintIndia @thecaravanindia @SwarajyaMag & other media houses - Why don't u talk about pain of folks who belong to middle class?
