Thiruvananthapuram: The Pinarayi Vijayan government has alienated lakhs of non-resident Keralites (NRK) and their families back home by ordering all returnees to necessarily produce a COVID-19 negative certificate to board flights to Kerala.
No other state in India has asked for such a condition, which has reinforced the fears of overseas Malayalees that they are not welcome to return. The embassy websites, carrying an announcement to this effect, clarifies that the step has been taken on the request of the Kerala government.
Earlier, the requirement of negative certificate was applicable only for chartered flights carrying the stranded workers, desperate to get back as they have been without job or the means to support themselves for months together.
This has led to widespread protests from the overseas Keralites that they are being discriminated against, as there is no such requirement for the Vande Bharat flights.
However, instead of removing the anomaly in favour of the affected people, the Kerala government has opted to make the requirement across the board, bringing the regular Vande Bharat flights under the requirement. Now, nobody can come in without a certificate.
The expatriate Malayalee community has been shocked at the indifference of the state government, which apparently is worried that a bigger influx would spoil its record of handling the pandemic with relatively greater success.
They point out that most of the stranded people cannot afford a test because they don’t have any money, apart from the fact that for a large number of people getting a test done would mean travelling thousands of kilometres by road as their stations do not have the facilities.
Even if there are hospitals capable of doing the tests, most people do not have access to these as the government hospitals only test people with clear COVID-19 symptoms. Also, the priority of government hospitals is to treat their own citizens, as a result of which the expatriates often do not get a chance. Many countries do not even hold PCR tests. Private hospitals are far beyond the reach of most people.
The Kerala government’s stand is that if people are allowed to board the flight without the negative certificate, there is a risk of asymptomatic passengers taking the flight, which would expose the all passengers and the crew of the flight to the disease. The government has, therefore, asked the Centre to organise special flights to bring COVID-19 patients alone.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to the Prime Minister, requesting his help in organising tests in foreign countries through the embassies and diplomatic missions. He has not received a reply yet, but his government has gone ahead with the advisory not to let anyone without a COVID-19-negative certificate board any flight.
The opposition parties have latched on to the opportunity to launch a no-holds barred agitation against the Pinarayi government for its approach towards non-resident Keralites. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has announced a day’s hunger strike on June 19 in front of the state secretariat to protest against the government decision.
