Desperate Sri Lankans highlight Chennai nightmare

[DarkSeid]

Abdul Hassan Mohamed Zarrok, (sitting extreme left) and some others stranded in Chennai

Over forty Sri Lankans stranded in India sans proper food and lodging plead to President Rajapaksa to get them back home

Around 35 males and five females have gone to India for different purposes

For more than a month the group has been stuck in ordinary hotels

The group was asked to leave the hotel as the hotel could not be closed when they are there

Over 40 Sri Lankans stranded at Chennai, India are desperately urging President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government to help them return to the island as they are without food, money or proper lodging facilities where they are now.

Around 35 males and five females have gone to India for different purposes; which includes the obtaining of medical treatment, facing of interviews to obtain visas to other countries and other business engagements. They claim they are living in fear as few cases of Covid-19 too were reported from the area they are staying now. The group has been living in areas closer to Chennai like Mannadi, Tnagar, Egmore and Annai Nagar.

These Sri Lankans expatriates are from various parts in the island like Colombo, Kegalle, Mawanella, Wennappuwa, Puttalam, Kurunegala, Polonnaruwa, Dambulla, Kalutara, Beruwala and Muttur.

For more than a month the group has been stuck in ordinary hotels paying large sums of money for lodging, but getting hardly anything to eat.

“We came to India to obtain medical treatment, but due to the current situation we got stranded and we don’t even have necessary food,” said Abdul Hassan Mohamed Zarook, a heart patient from Kegalle, who had visited India for treatment.

“Please make necessary arrangement for us to return to our country as we are in a terrible situation here,” pleaded the 63-year-old Zarook with tears in his eyes.

Twenty three-old Heshani Navodya, who has come from Polonnaruwa to face an interview to obtain a visa, was to return to Sri Lanka on March 18. “Unfortunately by that time airports in Sri Lanka were closed and there was no opportunity for us to leave India. There are over 40 others like me who are stranded here. There are nine Sri Lankans with me in the hotel and we are the only occupants in the hotel now,” said Navodya adding that the hotel management is asking them to leave at the earliest.

The group was asked to leave the hotel as the hotel could not be closed when they are there. “We don’t have any other place to go. There are no other hotels here and there is no place to obtain food as well. We understand the situation that the authorities and the people are experiencing in Sri Lanka, but we are really helpless at this moment,” added the young girl who had visited India with much hopes of finding a a job overseas.

“We urge President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to help us to return to our country soon and if there are any difficulty in doing that please make necessary arrangements for us to stay here until we make our return. There is no one here to help us at this moment,” she pleaded.

The owner of the hotel they are staying at is requesting them to leave soon. But where can they go? The most dangerous problem here is that they see that the people living in the vicinity of this hotel do not follow lock down rules properly. From upper floors they can see that they are moving around freely

“For almost every meal we eat dhal and rice and we purchase the items from a nearby boutique. But even such items are also going out of stock now,” Dishan Fernando, from Wennappuwa, who had gone to face an interview to be employed in a foreign country said.

“The most difficult problem is that we don’t have money to survive here now. We used to get money from our homes, but in the absence of bank facilities there is no way of obtaining money from Sri Lanka as well,” Dishan a qualified hotel employee said while describing the pathetic situation the group is faced with.

“The owner of the hotel we are staying at is requesting us to leave soon. But where can we go? The most dangerous problem here is that we see that the people living in the vicinity of this hotel do not follow lock down rules properly. From upper floors we can see that they are moving around freely. If somebody in this area gets infected with the virus there is a real threat to everyone around here,” Dishan claimed.

The members of this group said that details with regard to all those stranded have been provided to the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai and the Deputy High Commission is yet to make necessary arrangement to get them back to Sri Lanka.

An officer from the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission Office in Chennai has contacted members of the group and stated that the document pertaining to all forty odd Sri Lankans has been sent to Sri Lanka, and was awaiting a response.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/Desperate-Sri-Lankans-highlight-Chennai-nightmare/131-186645

 

[DarkSeid]

Stranded Sri Lankan undergrads seek attention

Female students

Studying at Lovely Professional University in Punjab

Sri Lankan students all over India want to return

Concerns raised over students stuck in Punjab university

Desperate appeal made as Indian student contracts COVID-19

As India this week extended a nationwide curfew till May 3, Sri Lankan students stranded all over India have appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to take them back home.

A group of over 100 Sri Lankan students stranded at the Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Punjab are among those who have made a desperate appeal to the Sri Lankan authorities.

LPU is a private university situated in Phagwara, Punjab and is also one of India’s largest universities.
Students from India, other South Asian countries and Africa are following academic activities at the university.
However, with the spread of the Coronavirus the university has suspended academic activities and requested students at the hostel to return home.

A group of students from Bhutan were among the last to leave this week but 104 students from Sri Lanka and a few from Africa are among the few who still remain in the hostel and in rented rooms outside.

The safety of the students in the campus is now at risk after a female student had this week tested positive for the Coronavirus.

The student was identified as a Bachelor of Physiotherapy student from West Mumbai.

Indian media reports stated that Health officials and the Police have launched a large-scale drive to trace the people who came in contact with the patient.

Deputy Commissioner Deepti Uppal told the Indian media that the Police have sealed the LPU campus and no one will be allowed to move out till the medical examination is completed.

On Monday the university said that as per the latest Government report, all samples, including those of doctors, mess workers and students who were in contact with the girl student of LPU have tested negative for the virus.

Urgent appeal
With nowhere to go and fearing for their lives, the Sri Lankans have made an urgent appeal to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to use his office to secure their return to Sri Lanka.

Tharaka Rupasinghe, President of the Sri Lanka student’s association of the university, told the Daily Mirror that they had sent a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appealing for steps to be taken to bring them back home.
He said that he has also been in touch with the Indian High Commission in New Delhi seeking assistance.

Rupasinghe said that they have been advised by the Sri Lankan High Commission to be patient, at least for a few more days.

However, he said that the more they wait the chances of them contracting the virus increase.

“After the girl in the campus contracted the virus all the students are living in fear. We really don’t know how she got it as the campus had been closed and no one was allowed out or in. So the fact that she contracted the virus while being in campus is a concern for all of us,” he said.

He said that the university authorities have also written to the Sri Lankan authorities urging them to take us back.
Sachin Hassim, a student of the same university said that their parents back home are very concerned about their safety and are doing all they can to get them back.

He told the Daily Mirror that with no date as to when the universities will reopen the students are desperate to return home.

Hassim also said that the canteen at the university has also been closed and food is being provided from the university mess.

However, the students have been told that they need to pay extra for the food and with banks closed obtaining money has become an issue.

“Our parents will send us the money, but we have no way of getting it from the bank. We really don’t know what to do and how to continue to survive,” he said.

Hassim wrote the letter on behalf of the students to President Rajapaksa stating that after understanding the current steps taken by the GoSL to curb the spread of Covid- 19, as students they feel more safer to be in Sri Lanka.

He said all the students are also in agreement to cooporate and comply with any quarantine and security steps enforced by the authorities on arrival in Sri Lanka.

Narmada Perera, a female student at the LPU told the Daily Mirror that the girls are more concerned about their safety, especially since a female Indian student in the girl’s hostel contracted the virus.

She also said that they do not consume food from the university mess as they have concerns about where the raw items come from.

Instead, she said that some of them purchase the goods from vendors who visit the university and cook for themselves.

“We are not really allowed to cook in our rooms, but we use what we have to prepare our own meals because we actually fear to eat from the university mess,” she said.

Perera said that while their meals are limited they are concerned about some Sri Lankan students who are staying outside the university premises as they may not have anything reaching them.

She said that with their money in hand also now running out they feel that the time is also running out fast.

When contacted, Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha told the Daily Mirror that the matter has been given priority. “For the moment the Acting High Commissioner in New Delhi is in close communication with the students and the university authorities,” he said.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/Stranded-Sri-Lankan-undergrads-seek-attention/131-186646

 

[Turingsage]

You must rail and abuse the govts of UK China Japan Korea USA etc etc etc as these govts have not hired planes to fly the Sri Lankans back . After all according to you its their job to do it, not Sri lanka's

 

[Gibbs]

You must rail and abuse the govts of UK China Japan Korea USA etc etc etc as these govts have not hired planes to fly the Sri Lankans back . After all according to you its their job to do it, not Sri lanka's

Sri Lanka was one of the first countries evacuate it;s citizens from China, It's well documented,

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/how-is-sri-lanka-managing-the-coronavirus-pandemic.658563/

Also they evacuated 100's of it's citizens from India in successive flights after the airport lockdown.. It's highly surprising how these people got stranded there, Either they didnt willfully heed the advice from the GOSL about leaving India or was gullible enough to think this pandemic will pass over

Anyway best thing to do is hunker down and survive till the right conditions are safe for their return.. SL cant afford to overwhelm their quarantine centers with new returnees till the current clusters are cleared

 

[padamchen]

Sri Lanka was one of the first countries evacuate it;s citizens from China, It's well documented,

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/how-is-sri-lanka-managing-the-coronavirus-pandemic.658563/

Also they evacuated 100's of it's citizens from India in successive flights after the airport lockdown.. It's highly surprising how these people got stranded there, Either they didnt willfully heed the advice from the GOSL about leaving India or was gullible enough to think this pandemic will pass over

Anyway best thing to do is hunker down and survive till the right conditions are safe for their return.. SL cant afford to overwhelm their quarantine centers with new returnees till the current clusters are cleared

Hunker down