Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday sought more Vande Bharat Mission flights to ferry expatriates home from Saudi Arabia.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Vijayan pointed out that 87,391 Keralites in Saudia Arabia had registered themselves on the State government’s portal to return home. However, only 13,535 could reach the State.
Echoing the concerns raised by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and various Malayali associations abroad, Mr Vijayan said the number of Vande Bharat flights to Saudi Arabia was few and far between.
Vande Bharat flights
Out of the 270 Vande Bharat flights, only 20 have touched Saudi Arabia. Mr. Vijayan said the majority of those aspiring to return home from the country were persons displaced from their jobs by the pandemic.
A significant section of the applicants were pregnant women, persons whose visa period had expired and aged and chronically ill senior citizens. The Chief Minister hoped the Centre would increase the frequency of flights to Saudi Arabia at the earliest.
Mr. Vijayan said 5,40,180 expatriates in various Gulf countries had expressed their intent to return to Kerala.
However, only 1,43,147 people were able to make it home. The State government would give no objection certificate to those persons hoping to charter flights to Kerala.
