Travel troubles: Aradhana Barooah did not have a transit visa, which was not asked for earlier visits
When 20-year-old Aradhana Barooah was heading to the Kiev airport on July 4 to board her British Airlines flight to Guwahati, little did she know that her journey will be way longer than what she could imagine.
Once at the airport, officials told her that her ticket, with a stopover in London, would require her a transit visa. Her family, then, spoke to the travel agent, who advised them to book a ticket via Istanbul. Aradhana had earlier travelled via that route without a transit visa.
So, she went back to board the flight the next day. She left Kiev without any hassle, and in Istanbul, she was to supposed to go out of the airport to go to board her flight six hours later from another airport which was 65 kilometres away.
She was intercepted here, told that she will not be able to travel further without a transit visa and will be flown back to Kiev. What was worse was that a flight to Kiev was available only in the next two days.
"She was kept in a room with a few more people, and was quite distraught when she called us," said Purabi Barua, her Guwahati-based mother, over the phone.
Her father, a school inspector in Hailakandi district of Assam, approached Moloy Bora, the deputy commissioner of the district.
"Someone advised me to speak to the external affairs minister on Twitter," said Bora over the phone, who admits he was not too hopeful.
And, he did. Soon enough, Sushma Swaraj directed the Consulate General of India in Istanbul to act on it. Within an hour, Aradhana's ordeal was over. She was put on a flight to Dubai, and to Mumbai from there on. In Guwahati, after her long journey, she sounds thankful. "I'm happy all of this is over," said the 20-year-old, who is a medical student in Ukraine.
All of them are all praises of Swaraj. "We were calling everyone we knew, and least expected the minister to act on the tweet so fast," said Purabi.
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