The Congress-led Opposition has moved a privilege motion against Health Minister KK Shailaja, and alleged that she misinformed the Assembly about the Centre’s issuance of travel advisory circular for passengers coming from Italy.
During the Assembly session on Wednesday, KK Shailaja had said that the first family of three from Italy, who have been tested positive for coronavirus, entered Kerala without informing the emigration desk or the health officials, and hence, the state was unaware that they had come back from Italy.
Reacting to this, Opposition’s MK Muneer, a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) on Thursday, raised certain allegations against the Health Minister. “The Minister said that they received the Centre’s circular regarding placing passengers from Italy only after March 1 and so they could not be kept. However, the Centre issued the said circular on February 26, and the passengers arrived on February 29,” he said.
MLA Muneer then read a portion of the circular issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on February 26, which said, “People coming from the Republic of Korea, Iran and Italy or those having history of travel to these countries may be quarantined for 14 days on arrival to India”.
“So then, how can the Minister claim that they deliberately jumped the emigration and did not declare that they came from Italy,” the MLA asked.
The advisory on February 26 said that people coming from Republic of Korea, Iran and Italy or having such travel history since 10th February 2020 may be quarantined for 14 days on arrival to India. However, the Union government mandated the universal screening and furnishing of the form only on March 3.
It must also be noted that the three passengers — 55-year-old man, his 53-year-old wife and their 26-year-old son — who travelled from Italy to Kochi airport via Doha, did not declare that they came from Italy at the emigration clearance desk. They only said they were flying from Doha, according to the government and airport sources.
This is despite the periodic in-flight announcements as well as the display boards at the airport, asking the passengers coming from affected countries to declare their travel details at the health desk, which are set up at both domestic and international terminals. Besides, a co-passenger of the NRI (non-Indian resident) family from Italy had told the media and in a Facebook post that Qatar Airways had announced that passengers should inform the health desk about their arrival.
If the passengers had informed at the health desk, it would be relayed to the state government, following which, they will be monitored for at least two weeks after their arrival in the state.
Meanwhile, the Assembly session on Friday, which was scheduled to go on till April 18, has been adjourned indefinitely in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
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