Kerala MPs urge Centre to address overseas travel curbs faced by Indians

Three Lok Sabha members from Kerala on Tuesday urged the government to take measures to address the problems faced by Indians in travelling overseas, as many countries have restrictions in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The problems of thousands of Indian students, who are pursuing courses in China, being stranded in India due to travel curbs have also been flagged by the three Congress party members -- V K Sreekandan, Hibi Eden and T N Prathapan.

These issues were raised by them during a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here on Tuesday and they also submitted a memorandum to the minister.

The minister assured that efforts would be made to address the issue of overseas Indians being unable to travel to foreign countries, according to a release issued by the three members after the meeting.

According to Sreekandan, nearly 13 lakh people who came from Saudi Arabia are still stranded in Kerala due to travel curbs imposed by that country and many of them have also lost their jobs due to expiry of visas.

Among others, many Gulf countries have put in restrictions on people travelling from overseas in the wake of the pandemic.