Expatriate Malayalees in the Gulf protest against the Central and State Government policy of requiring all expatriates arriving in India to stay in quarantine for seven days. The request is that quarantine should not be made compulsory for expatriates who return home for short vacations after receiving the third and fourth dose vaccines. The Pravasi Legal Cell said it would approach the court if it did not withdraw its anti-Pravasi stance.
The six Gulf states are included in the list of low-risk countries in the Omicron context. As per the directions of the Central Government, seven days quarantine has been made compulsory for all expatriates arriving in Kerala. The decision is a setback for expatriates coming home for short vacations. Therefore, the expatriates are unanimously demanding that those coming from the Gulf be exempted from the seven-day quarantine. Expatriates in the Gulf have received three or four doses of the vaccine, including the booster dose. Also return home with a PCR negative certificate received within 72 hours of departure.
The position of various expatriate organizations in Kerala is that it is unacceptable to impose restrictions on expatriates in spite of the fact that people congregate at various political party conventions without even following the Kovid norms. Jose Abraham, president of the Pravasi Legal Cell, submitted a petition to the Union Ministry of Health seeking reversal of the decision. If the decision is not reversed, the move is to approach the court.
The expatriate organizations are unanimously demanding the intervention of the Chief Minister, MPs and other people’s representatives to remove the quarantine for expatriates from the Gulf.
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