Expats left in lurch as Karnataka cancels Kuwait-MIA flight

MANGALURU: Several Kuwait expats, who were eagerly waiting to return to India, have been left in the lurch after the Karnataka government reportedly cancelled permission to the Kuwait-Mangaluru chartered flight at the last minute.
The IndiGo (6E 1758) flight was scheduled for take-off at 11am (Kuwait time) on Saturday. However, it did not after the state government cancelled the permission though it had received clearance from the Embassy of India in Kuwait.
With this, several expats, whose house rental agreement ends this month, are worried. If the flight is postponed to any day after July 1, they will have to find their own accommodation, which is a Herculean task as Kuwait is also grappling with Covid-19. An expat said that he closed the house agreement thinking that he and his family would return to India. “We can stay at our rented house till June 30, after which we need to stay at a lodge or any friend’s house, which is risky due to the pandemic,” the expat rued.
A majority are leaving Kuwait as they have lost jobs.
The chartered flight was organised by a Kuwait-based association. According to sources in the association, the flight was to carry 34 people needing medical attention, including pregnant women, and eight of those who could not be accommodated in the amnesty flight last time.
“The Karnataka government has cited technical snags as the reason to keep the flight on hold . If all goes well, it may take off on Monday, else it will spell trouble (to home-bound Indians),” the source added.
Meanwhile, the association sent amnesty people back to their camps.
An official handling repatriation and Vande Bharat Mission flights said that as per SOP, Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) allows only one foreign flight per day, and a maximum of two. Two flights were already scheduled at MIA on Saturday.
“This apart, officials who managed other assignments in the district have been deployed at MIA to oversee the repatriation flights. Airport officials do not help the team. It is difficult for us to handle this additional work as we are overloaded,” the official explained.