Well, that was an experience. In BOM the setup is at first as if there is nothing new: as you walk thru the corridors to get to immigration there is one checkpoint where they ask if you have the 'Self Declaration form' which is also asked for at checkin and during boarding for your flight. No one really looks for the details within though. Anyway, you get to immigration then do the walk thru duty free, pick up your bags and do customs as usual. After customs the turn left to the domestic transfer checkin/baggage drop is blocked off and the counters empty.
As you exit the customs doors confusion ensues. On the left there are queues for 'Mumbai' , 'rest of MH' and 'other states'. But you are not supposed to queue there unless you want to go into quarantine lock up. Istead you are supposed to turn right and get a Covid test. They have two labs doing the tests, suburban and lifenity. No one tells where and how to queue in the 4 lines. You can register with both online in advance, but when I finally made it to the 'counter' of Lifenity, the 'token' I had was useless, instead I had to fill out a form from scratch and pay the 850 for the test. The guy at the desk does a hard sell to sell a rapid test for 4500 if he senses you have a short connection. Since I saw him doing the hard sell, I blasted him straight away that it is none of his business when my flight is, to which he responded shyly 'no no, you will do the 850 test, I just need the info on the form'. After paying you go to a enclosure to get swabbed and then are let go with just the receipt which has you last name scribbled illegibly someplace but the same barcode sticker as the one which is on the sample.
Anyway you then make your way with your trolley thru the queues in the opposite direction, and go back to the 'other states' counter. There they collect a MH govt form that was handed out in the plane (in my case) that has various undertakings etc. It is also available on the csia website if you want to fill it out in advance
No one at that counter asked for the Air Suvidha form or proof the test you just got standing in line for 60 min and paying 850 or 4500. Instead I was supposed to show evidence that I really was going to the place I had listed in the form, which is impossible since it is my address in India which is not listed in any official document I have (passport, national ID and OCI). After a bit of back and forth the agent asked a supervisor in Marathi, who basically told her not to harrass me and let me go since I had shown that I had a ticket to go to LKO/CCU. Then I got the magic stamp on my left hand. This stamp and the 6E 'ticket' with a print out of the boarding pass was proof enough for the CISF guard of the magic corridor to the departure/checkin level. He was trying to think if all 6E flights had moved to T1, but when I started explaining in my Tom Alter Hindi he basically said 'no worries if you think it is here its OK'. When I was the 'other states' counter there were a few pax with domestic flights from T1 and it seemed they had made arrangements for them to be bussed directly there.
Anyway, once on the departure level all was as if I was starting my journey in BOM. Dropped my bags at the 6E desk and waltzed into security etc. The stamp seems to be normal stamp ink, its already washing off. UP and MH require a covid test to enter, which was checked by 6E at the baggage drop. My covid test from three days ago made in Germany cause a bit of head scratching but was accepted after consultation with a colleague at the next desk
In LKO and CCU nobody bothered to check.
The test result came to my Indian mobile about 10-11 hours after the sample was taken. Curiously it doesn't say 'negative' anywhere, just states that no traces were found in the sample collected
So I made it. What a drama.