THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has claimed that there is no data available with the LDF government on the number of stranded Malayalis in other states. Blaming the government for the woes of stranded Malayalis, he said the collectors in border districts of the state have not been issuing passes to them.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Chennithala said the UDF has come out with a 10-point programme with various recommendations for the rehabilitation of Keralites returning from abroad.
Chennithala said he has been getting a barrage of calls from stranded Malayalis across the border seeking his intervention for their smooth repatriation. He said every Malayali has the right to return to their homeland and recalled that the High Court’s intervention on Sunday came as a blessing in disguise for several stranded passengers.
He accused the state government of denying passes to those stranded by citing certain laws. While passes should have been released by the Palakkad district collector, instead they were issued by the Coimbatore collector seeing the plight of the Malayalis at the border.
“I am reiterating that Malayalis should be brought back only after the protocols issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are met. Currently, only those people who have aranged their own vehicles are being issued passes. The state government is not having any statistics on the total number of Malayalis stranded in other states, how many are male and female, how many are students and how many have so far lost their jobs,” said Chennithala.
He said that so far 366 special trains were being made operational in other states where four lakh guest labourers were repatriated. However, only a handful of trains were made operational from Kerala which shows the apathy being meted out to the guest labourers. Chennithala said the same facilities provided at the four international airports should have been implemented in the six check posts which would have benefited lakhs of stranded people.
He reiterated that all these factors show the complacency of the LDF government in bringing back those affected by the lockdown. He said the Pinarayi government has started its PR work for the next Assembly elections with the help of the US-based Sprinklr firm, with reports eulogizing his work having appeared in 35 international media organisations.
“The next step before the LDF government is to get international awards for its service and not to address the needs of the stranded Malayalis across the country. Pinarayi has kicked off his PR management. My question before the LDF government is what is the role and contribution of Sprinklr in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic?" asked Chennithala.
He urged the Pinarayi government to provide basic facilities at the quarantine centres as currently there has been a slew of complaints from people put up there. Chennithala requested the government to provide one more month's free ration to all ration card holders. He also requested the Centre to run normal train services instead of special trains as the lockdown will be called off next Monday.