THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure adequate food, medicines, quarantine and emergency facilities to the Indian diaspora in the UAE.
Vijayan said in his letter to the PM that the state government received several complaints on the inadequate isolation and quarantine facilities in the UAE. The NRKs are apprehensive that there would be an imminent community spread, he said.
“Most of the requests convey that preventive measures and quarantine methods implemented in Dubai are neither effective nor adequate. A majority of Keralites are blue-collar workers and living in crowded facilities in Dubai and therefore the probability of the virus spreading is very high. The Government of Kerala is very much concerned about the safety and well-being of our diaspora in Dubai,” the letter said. According to the CM, nearly one million Keralites are in the UAE.
Special pandemic relief bonds proposed
In another letter to the prime minister, Pinarayi called the latter’s attention to the fiscal crisis faced by the state in the wake of the Covid-19 spread. “The state has sought permission to issue special pandemic relief bonds and also to increase the borrowing limit by five per cent,” he said at the presser.
“The state is facing an acute fiscal crisis. Also, the expenditure on public health has soared. The only way to overcome this is to open market borrowing. Also, the Centre should exempt the loans sourced from external agencies for epidemic prevention and reconstruction from the ambit of state’s borrowing limit,” the CM said. The chief minister also said that austerity measures were needed to tide over the rough time.