Tamil Nadu: 700 stranded Indians repatriated from Maldives, brought to Tuticorin after 36-hour voyage

TUTICORIN: As many as 700 repatriated Indians reached V O Chidambaranar Port Trust in Tuticorin on Sunday as part of operation ‘Samudra Setu.’
Indian Navy Ship (INS) Jalashwa, with full capacity, set off from the Port of Male in Maldives at 9 30 pm on Friday. It arrived at the outer anchorage of Tuticorin port at 9 am and was then docked at berth no 14 at 9 30 am after the a 36-hour voyage.
The repatriates, included 655 male and 45 females.More than 470 persons suffered job loss due to the lockdown and requested for repatriation. Many others were returning due to personal reasons. Eleven including eight from Tamil Nadu were stranded tourists.
On disembarking the port their hands and luggage were sanitised and screened by the district and port health officials.
"A total of 508 passengers were from different parts of Tamil Nadu, including a majority from Kanyakumari district,” said Tuticorin district collector Sandeep Nanduri and added that the rest of them were from other States. After basic screening the passengers underwent customs and immigration checks.
Passengers from Tamil Nadu belonged to Kanyakumari (158), Trichy (48), Thanjavur (47), Pudukottai (31), Ramanathapuram (28), Perambalur (16), Tirunelveli (14), Cuddalore (14), Madurai (13), Tiruvarur (12), Chennai (11), Nagapattinam (11), Tuticorin (10), Sivagangai (9), Theni (8), Dindigul (7), Virudhunagar (7) and Salem (7). Six each are from Coimbatore, Kallakurichi and Tiruvallur, and five people from Villupuram, Namakkal and Ariyalur. Four were from Tiruvallur and Vellore; three each from Tenkasi, Tirupur and Chengalpattu; two from Erode and one each from Kancheepuram, Karur, Mayiladuthurai and Ranipet districts.
"Twenty five buses have been arranged through the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) and Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) for those from Tamil Nadu to return home,” the collector said and added that they will be subject to Covid-19 tests on reaching their destinations and will be under institutional quarantine for seven days.
All the passengers were provided with PPE kits after screening. The 192 repatriates from other states and those from Tuticorin will be under institutional quarantine in Tuticorin. They will be subject to test twice – on the first day and on the seventh day before they are allowed to go home.
Passengers from other states, include Uttar Pradesh (46), Andhra Pradesh (32), Bihar (25), Odisha (24), Kerala (17), Telangana (14), West Bengal (5), Uttarakhand (4), Maharashtra (4), Himachal Pradesh (4), Gujarat (3), Karnataka (3), Puducherry (2), Sikkim (2) and one each from Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Manipur, Punjab and Rajasthan.
After repatriating 686 Indians, who were stranded at Colombo in Sri Lanka, this was INS Jalashwa’s’s second repatriation voyage to Tuticorin. From Tuticorin the ship will head to Iran to repatriate nearly 700 fishermen. The ship is expected to bring the fishermen by June 20.