Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Jul 3: The Kannadiga, after much hardships and repeated flight cancellations, had prepared to return to the city by a chartered flight on July 4. But the revised order issued by the Karnataka government that people returning to the state can board the aircraft at the airport of origin only if they have tested negative in coronavirus test has come as a bolt from the blue for them.
The union government had facilitated travel of Indians stranded in other countries to return home by arranging flights under its ambitious 'Vande Bharat' initiative. But, only a handful of flights were made available. Flights to Mangaluru specifically were rare and far short of demand. The state government has been dithering in the matter of issuing permission for inbound flights, and because of this, the chartered flight to Mangaluru from Kuwait had been cancelled on June 27. The state government has now permitted the said chartered flight to fly to Mangaluru on July 4.
The Kannadigas in Kuwait fail to fathom the new rule as the testing system is not in place at Kuwait. The Kerala government has extended exemption to passengers from that state from the said rule. An engineer from the city currently in Kuwait has contacted MP Shobha Karandlaje and former MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik, urging them to bring this problem to the notice of the state government and seek exemption to the travellers from the said rule.
It is learnt that there is no system of conducting coronavirus tests for passengers travelling from Kuwait to other destinations. For passengers travelling by Kuwait Airways, this system has been in place but not for others. Kuwait Airways flights have a separate terminal and passengers of other flights do not have access to that terminal, it is said.