Over 1000 Indians stranded in Tanzania have reached out to the Indian government seeking for repatriation amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
The representatives of the Indian diaspora in Tanzania have mentioned that both the Government of India and the Indian High Commission in Dar Es Salaam are yet to respond to the plea for repatriation at the moment.
Rajan Pandya, who is a native of Vadavalli in Coimbatore, has been into the advertising business in Dar Es Salaam for the last 12 years. He reported to Hindu saying that the entire Indian diaspora came together through WhatsApp groups. They have also collectively contacted the Indian High Commission for intervention more than once.
They have also produced a list of the stranded Indians who are seeking repatriation at the moment.
In the letter that they have forwarded to the Indian High Commission, the diaspora forum that has been named as “Indians in Tanzania” has mentioned that they have been in talks with Air Tanzania and the airline is ready to fly them to India if the Indian Government and the High Commission agree for the same.
Over 1000 Indians in Tanzania belong to majority of the Indian states and Union territories.
Mr. Pandya further reported that everyone is willing to pay for the repatriation along with the cost of quarantine that is required once they land in India. The same message was then conveyed to the High Commission of India.
These stranded Indians have also tried to leverage the outreach of Twitter and tagged the authorities to gain their attention on the matter. They have tagged the Prime Minister of India, Home Minister, External Affairs Minister and some of the other prominent leaders in the ruling party of India.
Another stranded Indian from Sikar, Manoj Kumar Nehara reported that the spread of Covid-19 has been very fast across some of the African countries and they want to return to India as soon as possible.
Ravi Shah, who is a native of Vadodara, Gujarat, reported that the countries were not on lockdown and is not following the norms, resulting in rapid community spread of the virus across the country.
Mr. Pandya further emphasised the lack of facts in the reports updated by the Tanzania government. He further said that the reports on the rate of infection along with the death toll in the country don’t seem to be factual.
The latest development on this suggests that the Indian High Commission is yet to report on this.
