Team Herald
PERNEM: The State government has allowed fully vaccinated persons to enter Goa; however, the staff shortage at the Patradevi checkpost has forced hundreds of travellers to wait for hours with regards to document verification and COVID testing.
It is pertinent to note that at the border, the person’s documents are verified whether he/she has taken both COVID vaccine doses or else he/she has to undergo COVID test before entering the State. However, the ground reality is that on account of the staff crunch at the check post to verify the documents, people are made to wait in a queue for hours.
A similar situation is faced by those, who have to undergo the COVID test, as they too are made to wait for long to avail the test results.
To add to their woes, the ladies in particular are inconvenienced as there are no toilets and other facilities.
“There are no toilets at the Patradevi checkpost. We have been waiting here for long. The visitors especially the ladies are facing inconvenience,” a traveller from Maharashtra said.
According to sources, people residing close to the border cross the checkpost and enter Goa without any verification while travellers have to undergo verification of their documents or test negative for COVID. If these people are stopped and questioned, then they get into an argument with the police and the officials from the mamlatdar.
