THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy has raised serious allegations against the LDF government saying it is trying to compartmentalise people living in the state and non-resident Keralites citing the possibility of Covid-19 spread. Addressing media here on Monday, he urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to show an “open mind” towards the NRKs and not make impractical demands like Covid-19-negative certificates mandatory for them for returning to their own state.
The Covid-19 test costs more than `10,000, which the majority of expatriates who have lost their jobs cannot afford, and the results are valid only for three days, he said. Asserting that Pinarayi was creating panic among local people to prevent the NRKs from coming back, Chandy urged the government to extend the deadline for the Covid-19 negative certificate. By raising the spectre of pandemic spread, the government is trying to divide people living in the state and those coming from abroad, he alleged, adding that the certificate has been made mandatory only for NRKs coming from the Gulf countries.
“The mandatory rule of producing Covid-19 certificate is not practical. It should be revoked or else the expats will end up dying in the Gulf countries,” said Chandy.“I am not saying that both Covid patients and people having Covid symptoms to be brought back, but asking all expatriates to produce negative certificates after undergoing Covid tests is impractical. There are restrictions on Covid tests in some countries and expatriates can only go by those rules.”
Asked whether he is back in active politics, Chandy maintained that due to lockdown, he was confined to home and was busy working for the NRKs to ensure their smooth repatriation. He termed KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran’s controversial comments on Health Minister K K Shailaja as a closed chapter as the top brass of the party including himself had already commented.
SOP for chartered flights: High Court asks Central govt to produce files
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the Central government to produce the files related to standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for operating chartered flights to bring back expatriates from abroad. The Bench issued the directive on a petition challenging the Kerala government’s order making Covid-negative certificate mandatory for the expatriates returning to the state on chartered flights. The Central government counsel submitted that chartered flights have to be operated in accordance with the standard operating procedure issued by the Centre as well as the state government.