1,296 return from India thru Bhomra port in 9 days
Police marked the Bangladesh returnees with stamps bearing the date till which they will have to stay in self-isolation
As many as 1,296 Bangladeshi citizens have returned home from locked down India through Bhomra Land Port in Satkhira in last nine days, said immigration police.
The land port immigration police said all the arrivals have been instructed to stay in a 14-day mandatory self-isolation.
So far, none has been found with fever or flu during the medical check-ups on arrival, said Biswajit Sarker, officer-in-charge of the Bhomra Land Port immigration police.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
He said, "We have marked them with stamps bearing the date till which they will have to stay under home quarantine."
Biswajit further said, "In a bid to curb and prevent the spread of the virus, a list of returnees is being sent to all police stations every day."
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 announced a 21-day lockdown across the country. On that day, the country also expanded travel ban on its own passport holders to enter the country during the lockdown.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has declared a 10-day shutdown from March 26 to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Though Indians now staying in Bangladesh could not go to their country due to ongoing lockdown there, there was no bar on Bangladeshis returning from the country, said the immigration police OC.
The Bangladeshi citizens who got stranded in India were allowed to enter as their visa would expire soon, the police officer added.
As many as 541 people entered Bangladesh through the port on March 23. The number of arrivals was 94 on March 24, 45 on March 25, 48 on March 26, 94 on March 27, 105 on March 28, 128 on March 29, 89 on March 30 and 152 on March 31.
Hailing from Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira, Shahjahan Sarder returned home from India on Tuesday. Shahjahan said that he went India for work.
"Now, there is no work in India due to the ongoing curfew. I had to return as I ran out on my savings too," he said.
In the meantime, lockdown in the neighboring country has hit hard import-export at the land port.
Customs officer of the port Enam Hosen said that the government earns Tk3 crore revenue per day from the port during the usual period.
"The virus fallout has devasted everything including import and export through the port," he added.
