Chandigarh, May 20 (IANS): The Punjab government has set up a facilitation centre at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi to help Punjabis coming back on special flights from abroad.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said that transport facility has been arranged at the centre to ensure the comfortable return of stranded Punjabis and NRIs to their home districts, where they will be required to stay in quarantine for 14 days. They will also be tested for Covid.

Those found negative would be sent home for another two weeks of self-quarantine while those who test positive will be shifted to isolation centres for care and treatment.

With 20,000 stranded Punjabis and NRIs are expected to return home under the Vande Bharat Mission, many of them by flights arriving in New Delhi, the facilitation centre would ensure seamless coordination, without chaos or confusion, said the Chief Minister.

Coordinators have also been appointed in various countries to ensure the safe return of those who had registered for return to their native place in Punjab, on the lines of the nodal officers appointed by his government to facilitate the to and fro movement of migrants via the special Shramik Trains, he added.

Arrangements have been made to quarantine these people in hotels in the districts, and free quarantine facility would be given to those students or immigrants who cannot afford the cost of hotels, Punjab NRIs Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi said.