Rohit Shishodia            
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), has developed a first-of-its-kind portal where India-bound international arriving flyers can fill the mandatory self-declaration form and also apply online for exemption from mandatory institution quarantine process.

This will help in making passengers’ journey more convenient and comfortable in a contactless way as they won’t have to fill the physical copies of the forms on arrival.

According to Ministry of Aviation, passengers can seek exemption under the five specific categories including a passenger suffered a death in the family, suffering from serious illness (description to be provided), parents accompanied by children below 10 years and Covid-19 negative in recent RT-PCR test.

They will need to fill the e-form available on the website of Delhi Airport “www.newdelhiairport.in”. They will have to submit it along with supporting documents, including copy of their passports, at least 72 hours before boarding their flights. However, there is no such time capping for passengers filling for the Self-Declaration form.

This process will help passengers avoid the hassle of providing the same set of information and documents to different authorities multiple times as online portal has the smart option to auto fill the second application using the previous application’s request number.

All applications will get auto-routed to the respective state government depending upon the first port of arrival. All self-declaration applications will be routed to Airport Health Organization (APHO), under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

A copy of approval or rejection of exemption requests on specific grounds will be emailed to the passengers. Those who would be given exemption from mandatory institutional quarantine can show the same at transfer area after landing at Delhi Airport, and walk out of the airport hassle-free.

Mr. Videh Kumar Jaipuria, CEO-DIAL, said “Having an approved exemption form will not only ease the quarantine process, but also mitigate the problem of inordinate delay while queuing up for quarantine process. Further, passengers can also avoid the hassle of the filling physical copies of the self-declaration twice.”

Ms Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said, “MoCA appreciates Delhi Airport’s contribution in helping digitize and streamline this process of health self-declaration and exempting passengers. E-platform prepared by DIAL would be used by all airports in the country and help the states/ health authorities to fast track the process of clearances for international arrivals. This will further facilitate to scale up the number of flights handled at Indian airports.”

As per the current government mandate, all passengers arriving by international flights in India must undergo seven days institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by seven days of home quarantine. It is mandatory for international arriving passengers to undergo health screening by APHO. This includes thermal temperature screening by discreetly mounted, highly accurate, mass screening cameras.