New Delhi: The authorities at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi have set aside a batch of ink used to mark international passengers headed for home quarantine following complaints of allergic reaction.
Congress national secretary and spokesperson Madhu Goud Yaskhi tweeted a couple of images Sunday afternoon that appeared to show his forearm scarred where he was stamped. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the consortium that runs IGI, were tagged in the tweet and both took note.
DIAL said it will set aside the batch of indelible ink used on Yaskhi, adding that it has raised the issued with Delhi authorities.
We deeply regret the inconvenience caused. The ink used for stamping is a standard indelible ink. We've reported the issue to the Delhi State Authorities. [1/2]
— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) October 4, 2020
Thank you for drawing my attention to this. A have spoken to CMD AAI.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) October 4, 2020
ThePrint reached the Airport Authority of India (AAI), which oversees Indian airports, for comment, but it said the matter comes under the jurisdiction of DIAL (a consortium that includes AAI).
According to a source at the IGI Airport, stamping is done by the Delhi government’s health department as part of its home quarantine regulation for passengers arriving from foreign countries.
“The health department of the Delhi government takes care of it. The procurement of ink is also done by the Delhi government. There have been no such complaints earlier. We have informed them about the complaints we received,” the source added.
According to the source, there is no record of how many people have complained about allergic reactions to the ink.
ThePrint sought a comment from the Delhi Health Minister through calls, but there was no response from his office.
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Other complaints
All international passengers arriving in Delhi have to undergo seven days of institutional quarantine followed by an equally-long spell in home quarantine.
However, according to a report by news agency PTI, certain categories of passengers “like those with Covid-negative certificates from a test done 96 hours prior to the journey” are exempt from institutional quarantine. So, the passengers headed for home quarantine are stamped with indelible ink as they exit the airport.
Yaskhi is not alone in complaining about an allergic reaction to the ink. Rajal Sonal, a passenger who got the stamp on 1 October and took to Twitter with complaints about the ink, told ThePrint that “it felt like my skin was burning where the stamp was put”.
“The Delhi airport authorities responded and said they are checking the matter,” said Sonal, who has now recovered.
@DelhiAirport Good morning.
Please have look for the ink your team using at airports for Quarantine stamp and date. Don't know but look my picture..look like its burn my skin.
Travel date 1st Oct @AAI_Official pic.twitter.com/f19NpNX8Ut— Rajal (@Rajalsonal) October 5, 2020
Another passenger called Aadesh Madhok also took to Twitter to show his skin scarred around the stamping site.
I landed in Delhi an International Destination and as per COVID 19 rules they had to stamp my hand for Home Quarantine! However, the stamp ink they used was so bad that I got skin Infection and it burnt my skin. @timesofindia @AAI_Official @MoHFW_INDIA @HardeepSPuri pic.twitter.com/vvB8Zyd7Jw
— Aadesh Madhok (@MadhokAadesh) October 4, 2020
Earlier, reports of a similar nature emerged from Odisha, after a few passengers allegedly faced infection and blistering when they were stamped at the Biju Patnaik International Airport.
Aadesh Gandhi, a passenger who arrived in Bhubaneswar on 28 July, said he “faced a lot of irritation and a bit of swelling over the stamped area”. “I applied Vaseline and coconut oil for a few days and it was OK,” he added.
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