MPs belonging to the Congress-led
UDF in Kerala have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to engage chartered flights to bring back Indian citizens stranded in Gulf countries.
UDF convener Benny Behanan said party leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi had sent a letter to the prime minister earlier in this regard.
In their letters, UDF MPs including senior Rajya Sabha member and former union minister A K Antony and 19 Lok Sabha members from the state have accused the Central government of not taking steps to bring back stranded Indians in the Gulf nations.
Behanan, a Lok Sabha MP, said almost all the countries have arranged chartered flights to bring back their citizens to their respective homelands.
"There are lakhs of Indians, including Keralites working in Gulf countries who are staying there without sufficient accommodation to observe social distancing, which is most important to curb the spread of the pandemic", the Chalakkudi MP said in his letter to the Prime Minister.
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The workers staying in labour camps also face shortage of food items and medicines.
The atmosphere in the overcrowded labour camps will also lead to community transmission of the coronavirus, Behanan said.
According to the UDF convener, many people who have reached the Gulf on visiting visas are also stranded there.
Many people staying there are sick, many are old aged citizens and the list also include many pregnant women and they want to return to India, Behanan said.
"If chartered flight services are allowed, many Indian people could reach homeland in this critical period of the spread of COVID-19", he said.
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