India to begin expatriation flights to bring back citizens from Thursday
No flights for Karnataka citizens
Bengaluru: With more than 190,000 Indian expats in UAE registered to return home on repatriation flight, the Indian government will begin the repatriation operation from Thursday, beginning with two flights that will take of from UAE with Indian expats.
Indian government has decided to deploy fleet of charter flights and naval warships, to bring its citizens back to the country amidst the world-wide corona virus scare. The government sources added that the embassies were preparing priority lists ahead of the operation’s launch on May 7.
According to the reports, between May 7-14 about 60 commercial flights will bring back at least 15,000 citizens from 12 countries with distressed Indian citizens including tourists stranded overseas and expat workers who have lost job being its priority.
Apart from the flights, the government has deployed naval warships including INS Magar and INS Shardul which headed towards Maldives and Dubai respectively.
Interestingly, despite follow-ups, meetings and requests made by several Kannadigas NRI organizations in UAE, the government of Karnataka has not finalized if it will send or receive any flights from the gulf.
The state has no flights scheduled to arrive with its citizens from UAE in the first phase of the operation. In a joint statement released by several organizations of Karnataka in UAE, the organizations claimed that there are several Kannadigas stranded in UAE including plight of severely sick patients and over hundred pregnant women and that at least one flight arriving with the Karnataka’s citizen in the first phase was required.
It also condemned that the approach of the state government and added it was reacting carelessly to the matter. It further demanded that the state government should immediately coordinate with the centre and arrange for flights to ply its citizens back to the state at the earliest.
Praveen Shetty, President of KRNI Forum, Mohammad Naveed- President of Anivasi Kanandigaru Dubai, Sunil Ambalavalil- VP of Anivasi Kannadigaru, Dubai, Hidayath Addoor- Vice President of Bearys Chamber of Commerce, BCCI UAE chapter, Harish Sherigar- Patron Sharjah Karnataka Sanga, Chandrashekar Lingadahalli, President Basava Samithi, Imran Khan- President, Karnataka Media Forum, Ronald Martis- Mangalore Christian community in Dubai, Daya Kirodian- Dubai Karnataka Sanga, Noel Almeida -member of various organization including KNRI, Yashwanth Karkera- Tulu Sanga, Ashfaque sada- President of Bhatkal Muslim Jamaat Dubai, Yusuf Bermaver- General Secretary Bhatkal Muslim Jamaat Dubai, Afzal S M- Bhatkal Muslim Jamaat Dubai, Shashidar Nagarajappa- Kannada Patashale Althaf Hussain- Kodava Samaja, Ashraf KM- Businessman, Johnson Martis- Business professional, Siraj Parladka- Blood Helpline Karnataka and Ansar Barkur endorsed the jointly released press statement on Tuesday.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
