Over 1.26 lakh people have come into Tamil Nadu from other States since May 6, the day since when the inflow/return of people was allowed by the Tamil Nadu government. Another 2,715 persons have arrived from other countries, as on June 2.
According to figures available with State government officials, 1,26,085 people arrived in the State on their own vehicle, by train, government-arranged buses or by flights, as on June 2.
Among them, 76,589 people returned either on their own or through private vehicles, 35,034 came on government buses, 7,532 by flights and 6,930 by trains. Officials have not updated figures with those who arrived on a ship in Thoothukudi on June 2.
Of the 1.26 lakh returnees from across the country, over 60,000 returned from 10 States — Karnataka (31,881), Kerala (14,857), Andhra Pradesh (5,702), Telangana (2,693), Uttar Pradesh (1,610), West Bengal (1,405), Bihar (510), Odisha (379) and Jharkhand (157). From the Union Territory of Puducherry, a total of 1,447 people have returned. The remaining 64,780 returned from other States and Union Territories.
As for arrivals from other countries, a majority of them returned from the United Arab Emirates (833). Besides the UAE, people have arrived from 11 other countries.
Other countries from where people returned to Tamil Nadu were the U.K. (333), Korea (296), Oman (189), Malaysia (186), Philippines (167), the U.S. (143), Kuwait (186), Bangladesh (186), Mauritius (98), Myanmar (83), Sri Lanka (15, not including those who arrived on board a ship), as on June 2.
When asked about the requests made by natives of Tamil Nadu, presently abroad, wanting to return, a senior official said that four agencies were involved in the process — the Union Ministry of External Affairs, the airline company, the Airports Authority of India and the Tamil Nadu government.
“About 56,000 persons have registered with us to return. But the Centre is arranging the flights and they are the authority that decides on who gets to come first,” the senior officer said.
When asked whether the Tamil Nadu government had communicated to the Centre about the return of people to the State, he said: “We have only requested the Centre to restrict flights to Chennai. We do not have any problem with other cities.”
Over one-third of the requests for e-passes sought by people to enter Tamil Nadu have been rejected on various grounds.
As on June 2, a total of 96,484 people applied for e-passes and of them, only 30,966 were approved. A total of 61,701 requests for e-passes were rejected, according to figures available with the government.
Another 3,817 requests for e-passes are still pending with the authorities.
Officials said that a lot of factors came to play while accepting or rejecting a pass, ranging from the address in the document uploaded, age, reason for travel, etc.
“The idea is to only allow passes so that stranded people return and not for all to travel for other reasons,” an official said.
