Congress operates 16 buses for Keralites

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee has so far sent 16 buses to Kerala for taking home Keralites stranded in the state. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said Congress launched the initiative as the state government took an indifferent stand towards the Keralites stuck in other states.
He said those people who had come up to Walayar border were being blocked by the authorities and they had to wait for hours to get the permission to enter their home state. “The chief minister himself had criticized the people’s representatives who had come to the help of the stranded people. Now, these leaders have been asked to go on quarantine,” Chennithala said.
“It was in this circumstances that the Congress decided to bring back the Keralities from Karnataka. The Karnataka PCC decided to help the people based on the request made by the state leaders from Kerala,” he said.
The Karnataka government handed over the state-owned transport corporation buses on rent for this purpose. So far, 16 such buses reached Kerala. The people were brought free of cost and in each bus only 27 passengers were allowed. The buses brought the people to the state borders at Walayar, Kumily, Manjeswaram and Muthanga.
Chennithala said the state government allowed only seven buses to enter the state and the remaining ones were permitted only up to the state borders. The respective DCCs had arranged vehicles to transport the passengers who had reached the borders to reach their destinations, he added. He also termed baseless the reports that the people were dropped midway at the borders.