Kerala refuses quarantine facility for 150 Mangalureans including 12 pregnant women from Dubai

Kerala refuses quarantine facility for 150 Mangalureans including 12 pregnant women from Dubai

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, July 1, 2020: In the tussle between the district administrations of Dakshina Kannada and Kasaragod, 150 Mangaloreans, including 12 pregnant women, had a harrowing time when they were evicted from lodges in Kasaragod and sent to Mangaluru in the middle of the night. “If IAS officers don’t have humanity, what is the use of the IAS tag. Officers in the two states should learn to speak to one another and solve people’s problems,” said U T Khader, four-time MLA of Mangaluru.

On Saturday, the 150 passengers arrived from Dubai in a chartered flight arranged by the Karnataka Cultural Foundation, an organisation affiliated to the Sunni group led by Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar. “The flight landed in Kannur after it was denied permission to land in Mangaluru,” Khader said.

But Karnataka’s nodal officer for stranded persons outside India C N Meena Nagaraj, an IAS officer, called up Kerala officials and questioned why the flight was allowed to land in Kannur, Khader said. She reportedly told Kerala officials that the passengers should be quarantined in the cities of arrival, that is Karnataka would not take them in.

In the meantime, the Karnataka Cultural Foundation arranged seven buses to take the passengers to Mangaluru. By the time it was conveyed to them that they would not be allowed to enter Mangaluru, the buses had reached Kasaragod district. The representatives of the organisation made frantic calls to several political leaders. Congress leader and district panchayat standing committee chairperson Harshad Vorkady said he got a call for help around 10pm on Saturday. He spoke to owners of three lodges to accommodate them. The lodges were used by the district administration as quarantine centres.

MLA Khader unhappy with officials’ response

The lodge owners said they would take the passengers in only if the Kasaragod tahsildar gave permission. “So I called up the tahsildar. He only wanted to know who will pay for the lodging and food. When I told him that the passengers will pay, he gave permission. By midnight, all the passengers were put up in the three lodges,” he said. The police were also at the spot, he said.

According to the Covid protocol, those arriving from abroad should be in institutional quarantine for seven days and in room quarantine for another seven days. But by 4pm on Sunday, the police returned to the lodges and asked the passengers to vacate. They said it was the order of the collector. They produced the order to the lodge owners.The office-bearers of the Karnataka Cultural Foundation said they sought time from the Kasaragod police to arrange rooms in Mangaluru. But Kasaragod police denied it.

On Sunday, there were two Covid deaths in Mangaluru and the Mangaluru deputy commissioner was tied up as residents were objecting to the funeral of one of the victims.“By night, the police started threatening the lodge owners. The members of the Foundation said they would shift the passengers by Monday morning. But the collector would not listen,” said Harshad.

Around 11pm, the Kasaragod district administration brought in four KSRTC buses and sent all the 150 passengers to Mangaluru, he said. By 1am the buses crossed the Thalapdy border and Khader took over from there. But the MLA was livid with how officials treated the people. Collector Sajith Babu in a statement said his enquiry found that the tahsildar did not give permission to accommodate the passengers in Kasaragod lodges.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express