Chennai/Mumbai/Bengaluru: Absence of public transport facilities and poor coordination between the governments have led to uncertainty over the return of Keralites stranded in other states due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Confusion prevails even as the Kerala government has begun to issue travel pass for those wishing to return to the state.
“:As many as 30,000 Keralites have been given permission to return so far and up to 12,600 people will be allowed in a day,” Chief Secretary Tom Jose said.
Currently, passes are only given to those travelling in their own vehicles or hiring a cab. However, concerns remain over thousands of Keralites who do not have their own vehicles or money to hire a taxi.
Questions are being raised such as whether the trains ferrying migrant workers from Kerala can be used to bring back the stranded Keralites from these states? Will the KSRTC buses be sent? However, there is no clear answers for these questions.
Applications must be submitted on the covid19jagratha.kerala.nic.in for the travel pass.
Travel passes were issued from Sunday for those who had registered. Some people got the travel pass and even the time to reach the border.
But the application cannot be submitted without filing in the vehicle number.
As many as 43,000 people from Tamil Nadu, 45,000 from Karnataka and 19,000 from Maharashtra have registered via NORKA. But they will have to register on the Jagratha website again to get the travel pass. They also need to secure the travel pass from the states they are currently in.
'Kerala did not seek special train'
Meanwhile, the Central railways has said that Kerala has not requested for a special train to bring back Keralites from Maharashtra.
The Chief Secretaries make a request for trains after taking a count of the number of people stranded and the necessary precautions. The railways said that they were yet to get an official communication from the state government in this regard even as the Keralites in Maharashtra demanded that trains should be announced to Kerala soon.
Malayalis also said they were apprehensive as the Kerala government was yet to intervene in the issue.
Pointing out the differences in travel norms mandated by the Kerala and Karnataka governments, Malayalis in Karnataka sought for a better coordination between the states.
States yet to give permission
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments have issued travel pass to Keralites stranded in these states. But Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had not issued travel pass to Keralites till Sunday night.
Norms to be followed
The Kerala government has stipulated that people should commence travel only after receiving the digital pass, including the QR code, on their mobile phone and email.
* Number of travellers - Only four people are allowed in a five-seater, five in seven-seater, 10 people in a van and 25 in a bus.
* Take permission from the state authorities of your current location if needed
* Make your own arrangements if you plan to rent a car till the border and then take another vehicle. Only driver is allowed in these vehicles. Also, the driver should take emergency pass from the respective Collectors via website.
* People heading to other states to bring back their relatives also need to take permission from the respective Collectors
* Those who have symptoms will be quarantined at hospitals or COVID care centres, others should be isolated at their homes.
* Six entry points to the state - Keralites can return to the state only through Injivila in Thiruvananthapuram, Aryankavu in Kollam, Kumali in Idukki, Walayar in Palakkad, Muthanga in Wayanad and Manjeshwaram in Kasaragod.
* Nodal officers have been assigned in each state to coordinate the travel.
