Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is chairing an important meeting of police and revenue officials to cobble together an aggressive enforcement strategy to prevent the active movement of people between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The comings and goings through inter-State railway lines, unconventional border paths, forest trails, plantation areas and even sea route had raised the spectre of fresh COVID-19 flare-ups in both States.
Tamil Nadu is in the middle of an intense lockdown in five districts from April 26 to April 29. They include Coimbatore and Tirupur, which share a border with Kerala.
The police have told the government that the tightening of lockdown restrictions had spawned a mafia that transported people to other States and districts for cash.
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The racketeers had contracted a network of ambulance, cargo and container lorry drivers to conceal passengers in the holds of their vehicles and convey them to their destinations. The police have arrested several, including ambulance operators, for transporting people during the curfew.
The police said some persons living on properties straddling inter-State borders facilitated the racket alongside bootlegging and smuggling of other contraband.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera is attending the conference. District Police Chiefs and Collectors have joined in by video link.
Motorcycle squads
Officials say Mr. Behera has mooted special motorcycle squads aided by drones to monitor and prevent illegal movement across the border.
They say Mr. Vijayan has put the impending return of non-resident Keralites, arrangements to evaluate and put them under observation, ensuring hospital beds and rooms for their quarantine on the table for discussion.
The government is also in touch with aviation authorities and airliners to ensure that Gulf returnees are not overcharged.
Scores of people in foreign countries, mostly blue-collar workers displaced by the outbreak in Gulf countries, are registering themselves on the website run by the Department of Non-Keralite Affairs to get a berth on the special flights home.
Special flights
The Centre had informed the State that it was willing to weigh the option of allowing airlines to operate special flights to the return citizens stranded in the Gulf. However, it had not set a date for the commencement of flights.
The government has submitted a detailed proposal to the Centre regarding the containment strategy for non-resident Keralites returning from COVID-19 hotspots across the globe, especially the Gulf.
It has asked the Centre for specific guidelines and said that pregnant women, amnestied prisoners, stranded fishers, aged and ailing persons, students, minors, domestic maids and those requiring urgent medical attention should be brought back home first.
Health Minister K. K. Shylaja and Chief Secretary Tom Jose are also attending the meeting. The conference will also take stock of the gradual reopening of small businesses in rural and urban localities. Mr. Vijayan is likely to seek a special package from the Centre to rehabilitate Gulf returnees.
The meeting is also a precursor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conference with Chief Ministers scheduled for next week.
