Tamil Nadu refusing clearance for evacuation flights, Centre tells HC

Tamil Nadu refusing clearance for evacuation flights, Centre tells HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.06.2020

Due to the Tamil Nadu government’s refusal to give clearance for Vande Bharath Mission flights, Non-resident Indians (NRIs) from the state are forced to land in neighbouring states and then proceed to their destination in Tamil Nadu, the central government has informed the Madras high court.

“The state government has requested that the number of flights to Chennai may be restricted to two per day and to Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore and Madurai not more than 1, to facilitate smooth reception and observance of Covid-19 protocol,”the ministry of external affairs said through a memo filed in the court on Monday.

The submissions were made in response to a PIL moved by DMK alleging that the state is not permitting landing of international flights. When the plea came up for hearing before a division bench of Justice R Subbiah and Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy, senior counsel P Wilson pointed out the memo filed by the Centre and said the state was not permitting such flights. This apart, the state has also conveyed that in addition to the VBM flights, it had also been getting requests for chartered flights. Passengers arriving by charter flights have to pay for quarantine accommodation and Covid-19 testing twice, once on arrival and a second time on day 7/8 of the quarantine and have started demanding confirmation of online bookings of the same as pre-conditions to clear charter flight passengers,” the memo said.

However, in a separate status report filed by the Tamil Nadu government, it was submitted that the state has not prohibited international air travel services.“The return journey of Tamil people stranded in various countries continues in all four international airports in the state and through the sea ports of Tuticorin and Chennai,” P Senthilkumar, principal secretary to the public department of the state said in the report.

As on June 15, 61 flights from 17 different countries have brought 9,625 Indian nationals from abroad through the four international airports in the state. This apart, 1,369 have been brought back to Tamil Nadu through 2 ships from Colombo and Maldives, the report added. Besides, 33 more flights from various countries are scheduled to arrive in the state in the next two weeks alone, the state said. To this, additional advocate general SR Rajagopalan submitted that he would get further instructions on the issue. Recording the same, the court adjourned the plea to June 30.

The Centre says due to the move NRIs from the state are forced to land in neighbouring states and then proceed to their destinations in TN