Pvt agency cons many promising quarantine stay

When the officials here asked them to pay the tariff for 14-day quarantine at hotels, the angry passengers staged a protest causing a flutter at the airport late in the night.

According to sources at Chennai airport, these passengers had arrived on a special flight which was arranged by a private agency. After the flight landed in Chennai, the officials here asked the passengers to pay money for hotels as the free stay was not available.

But the passengers replied that they had already paid the private agency a hefty sum which included accommodation during the quarantine period. They claimed the agency had charged Rs 65,000 from each of them for the stay. Shocked and angry that they had to pay again, the passengers staged a protest inside the airport.

The officials then conducted enquiries and found that the agency had not booked any hotels for these passengers. Also, none from the firm turned up at the airport to pick up the passengers, officials said. When the passengers said they could not pay again, the officials arranged accommodation for them at a private college in Avadi. Of them, 280 passengers decided to stay at the college while 29 preferred to pay up and went to a hotel.