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Sunday, 5th April 2020
Still no flights from Amritsar – Sikh Council UK ‘disheartened’ by FCO’s latest announcement.
Sikh Council UK wrote to the Rt. Honourable Dominic Raab MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the 31st March 2020 urging him to bring back British Nationals stranded in India, especially Punjab due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Secretary General Jatinder Singh made particular reference to the ground reality of the situation:
‘These British nationals are being put at risk due to the lockdown, stigmatisation and poor health facilities in India. There are also equally-worrying reports of British nationals in these countries facing local hostility.’
Today, the Acting High Commissioner to India, Jan Thompson made announcements for first charter flights from India from Mumbai, Goa and Delhi. We hope all passengers stranded in these areas arrive safely to their homes in the United Kingdom.
We appreciate the complexities and difficulties that the FCO is faced with. However, given that thousands of British Nationals are stranded in Punjab, and there are restrictions on inter-state travel in India we are alarmed no provisions have yet been announced for charter flights from Amritsar.
The reason that many elderly and vulnerable Sikh and Punjabi travelers choose Sri Guru Ram Dass International Airport, Amritsar as their port of arrival is because they are unable to endure the eight-hour car journey from Delhi to Punjab without further negatively impacting their health. This is why the FCO’s announcement this morning lead to disappointment amongst Sikhs in the UK who anxiously await loved ones.
The FCO should also take into account that travellers (especially elderly and vulnerable) may have exhausted their financial resources during these difficult circumstances. Therefore it may not be possible for them to purchase nearly full-priced tickets on charter flights while refunds/reimbursements are still being processed by their original airlines. We suggest concessionary rates are applied for stranded travellers.
We urge the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Office to prioritise the repatriation of Sikh/Punjabi British Nationals stranded in Punjab from SGRD International Airport, Amritsar (ATQ). Further delay could cause health issues, including the risks to life for the elderly and vulnerable.
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Sukhjeevan Singh Kandola
(Spokesperson, Sikh Council UK)
07703325038
info@sikhcouncil.co.uk
