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BUSINESS |
Chandy says private carriers should fly to Gulf,
may start Kerala's own airline
Oomen Chandy proposes private airlines, and
Kerala's own airline for Gulf malayalees
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MUMBAI: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Saturday criticised the government policy of not allowing private domestic carriers to fly the Gulf sector and said non-resident Indians must be allowed voting rights.
He has also said that Kerala government may
consider starting its own budget airline to the
Gulf countries for the benefit of Gulf
malayalees.
Addressing the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here, he said by denying permission to private sector carriers to fly to Gulf nations, competition will be stifled and passengers denied low fares.
"There is no logic behind excluding domestic private airlines from flying to Gulf countries. I am not at all convinced," he said, referring to a recent announcement that opened overseas routes to private carriers with caveats.
Chandy said there were 1.5 million Keralites in the Gulf region with practically all of them holding Indian passports. "It is time their contributions are recognised. They need to be complimented for the hard work they are putting in."
In the session on "Non-Resident Indians in the Gulf", the Kerala chief minister also raised the issue of voting rights and said: "There is no reason why voting rights should be denied to non-resident Indians."
He, nevertheless, dwelt on the practical aspects of voting rights and said neither postal ballots nor permission to vote in embassies were solutions since India has 540 parliamentary and over 6,000 legislative constituencies.
"There is just 15 days gap between the last date for withdrawal of nomination and voting day. It is not possible to print the ballot papers in that time, send them to the Gulf for voting and bring them back."
He nevertheless suggested amendments in relevant acts to permit the names of all non-resident Indians in the voters' list so that even if 10 percent of the non-residents were in India on balloting day, it would be a good gesture.
The issue of voting rights has been an issue not only with non-resident Indians holding Indian passports, but also with people of Indian origin of different nationalities who will now qualify for dual citizenship under a new policy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday had announced in his inaugural address Friday that India would grant dual citizenship to all overseas Indians who migrated after Jan 26, 1950, as long as their home countries also permitted it under their laws.
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