CM Wants Tamils In West Asia To Be Evacuated

In a letter to the Prime Minister on Wednesday, Stalin wanted the Union Government to kindly facilitate the issuance of necessary transit permissions and visas to enable stranded Tamils to reach operational airports safely and return to India at the earliest.

Flight operations from certain locations like Bahrain and Kuwait had been disrupted and many stranded persons were required to travel by road to international airports in neighbouring countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, making transit visas an important requirement, he said.

The rapidly evolving security situation had caused considerable distress among the people employed across the Gulf region for livelihood and their families in Tamil Nadu, he said,adding that the State government had established 24×7 helplines in Chennai and at Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi to respond to concerns of affected families.

Since around 2,600 distress calls had been received on those helplines, most of them requesting assistance for repatriation to India and seeking clarity regarding the availability of flights from the affected areas, details of nearly 1,000 stranded Tamils had been compiled and shared with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassies in the region for necessary follow-up action and assistance, he said.

While around 5256 stranded passengers had arrived in Tamil Nadu through 16 flights operated by foreign air carriers, if the Ministry of Civil Aviation could arrange additional special flights to Chennai, the large number of persons seeking evacuation could return home, he said.

Stalin also brought the attention of the Prime Minister to the around 593 fishermen from Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi districts, stranded in Iran. Since the families of those fishermen had approached the State Government with urgent requests for their safe return, necessary steps might be taken to ensure their safety and safe return.