Congress leader Shama Mohamed slammed the Indian government for charging fares for Indian citizens who were stranded abroad amid lockdown and said this shows how greedy the BJP government is.
Shama Mohamed, while criticising the government remembered the time when she and her family were evacuated from Amman in October 1990 during the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. At that time, she said, she wasn’t charged anything.
Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader wrote: "Me & my family were evacuated frm Amman in October 1990 during the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq & we did not pay a single penny. Now each Indian has 2 pay for their evacuation (ranging from 20000 Rs to 1 lakh for a single ticket).This is a shocking display of greed by the BJP govt!"
While many netizens supported Shama Mohamed, few slammed her. One user said, "You and your family should have paid Air India after u were better off, Air india is in financial year crises. They deserve payment." Another user said, "What can we expect from power hungry and blood thirsty Govt whose only agenda is to loot every penny from poor & middle class and serve their Rich masters by waiving off loans of their crony capitalists. This Govt is not only corrupt to its core but also morally deranged."
Here's what netizens had to say:
India’s first phase of evacuation operation was launched on Thursday. During a press conference, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the government will operate at least 64 flights between May 7 and May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indians stranded in other countries, in one of the country's biggest evacuations during the coronavirus outbreak, reports news agency ANI.
The minister said, the rates fixed for the journey from London to Mumbai is Rs 50,000. Similarly for those who are returning from London to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Delhi will also pay Rs 50,000 for the journey. "For Chicago-Delhi-Hyderabad the rough cost will be about Rs 1 lakh. For Dhaka-Delhi flight, rough cost will be Rs 12,000," he said.
