mid-day impact: BMC starts crackdown against agents in Mumbai selling fake COVID-19 negative reports

Falcon Bus Line Pvt Ltd, run by Rohit Jaiswal, was caught on camera resorting to malpractice. Pics/Rajesh Gupta

Shaken by a mid-day exposé on the brazen use of fake COVID negative certificates by tours and travel companies to ferry passengers out of Maharashtra, the civic body on Wednesday promised to launch an internal probe. Officials said they will decide on Thursday if the police are to be roped in. In its front-page report of April 14, this newspaper had shown that touts were arranging bogus RT-PCR reports just for Rs 300.

Sanket Travels World, owned by travel agent Sanket, was another company that was sending passengers with fake reports

The crackdown follows mid-day's sting operation in the first week of this month to uncover how civic officials were helping international passengers arriving in the city escape quarantine.

BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal confirmed the decision to launch an inquiry in the latest case. Officials said the registers of visitors to tours and travel agencies will be checked. The RT-PCR reports of all those who travelled through these agencies will also be scrutinised.

"The matter will be investigated as it is serious. If a person is positive and is being given a negative report, then it becomes dangerous for the common man," said a civic official. Additional Commissioner (Health) Suresh Kakani said a team headed by a person of the rank of assistant commissioner will look into the malpractice.

Kakani said, "The Charkop police have already registered an FIR in a similar case. mid-day has conducted a sting operation in Ghatkopar. This too shall be investigated and if anyone is found guilty, a case will be registered against him."

The senior civic official said they will check the registers of the labs to see how many people have been issued test reports and how many people have actually given swab samples. mid-day's sting operations at Ghatkopar's Gopal Bhuvan and Borivli's SGNP bus stops had shown that many tours and travel operators were issuing fake COVID negative certificates for just Rs 300-Rs 500 to travellers going to Gujarat and Rajasthan.

April 5
Day mid-day exposed a scam at the airport