Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Travel agents assn. seeks extra flights to Kuwait

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM MARCH 21. The Kerala Association of Travel Agents has asked the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, to put pressure on the Union Government to operate additional flights to bring back Malayalis who have been stranded in Kuwait following the U.S. action in Iraq.

The association president, K. V. Muraleedharan, and other office-bearers told a press conference here today that Mr. Antony should contact the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Shanawaz Hussain, to convey to them the seriousness as over 5,000 Malayalis have been stranded.

If Air India and Indian Airlines do not have enough aircraft to operate, the Government should cooperate with Gulf- based foreign carriers or hire them for operating the services.

As the airport at Kuwait is to be closed at any time, he said steps should be taken to bring Malayalis through Dammam.

The association has demanded that the State Government should send the Minister for Non-Resident Keralite Affairs, M. M. Hassan, to Kuwait to provide all possible assistance to the Malayalis and to bring back those who have been stranded in Kuwait.

The majority of Malayalis stranded in Kuwait due to non-availability of flight tickets are women and children.

Welcoming the steps initiated by the Government in view of the U. S military action in Iraq, the association president said the Government should take steps to implement them on a war-footing as 60 per cent of the NRIs in the Gulf are Malayalis.

The association said that the airlines should not harass the Gulf passengers who are returning back in view of the crisis. The reservation of the seats through travel agents in Kuwait has stopped and the airlines are having the monopoly, they said

Meanwhile, the flights of various Gulf-based carriers to various destinations in the Gulf countries are going with `full load' despite the panic created by the U.S. military action. Seats are not available to destinations such as Dubai.

However, the traffic to Kuwait has slowed down with the Union Government tightening the immigration clearance in view of the crisis.

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