Pravasi Co-ordination Committee Qatar (PCCQ), a body of various Indian community organisations in the country, will arrange a free-of-cost chartered flight to carry about 180 distressed and stranded Keralites due to Covid-19 under the motto ‘Humanity Above All’. The flight is expected to depart from Doha by the end of this month.
“We are chartering a flight to carry the most genuinely deserving members of the community as they have been stranded in the country due to Covid-19. We hope to reach out to the neediest and those who are living in the most distressed conditions. We appeal every deserving person to register for this facility and will be able to provide around 180 seats on the flight,” Dr Nizar Kochery, chairman of PCCQ, told Gulf Times.
The deadline for registration ends on Sunday 7pm. Those who wish to make use of the facility can register with all the details including passport copies as well as other necessary documents through an email at [email protected]. They can also contact 55813105 (Dr Nizar Kochery) for further guidance and registration.
The decision to provide such a facility was taken at a meeting of the member organisations of PCCQ and the announcement was made on Saturday.
PCCQ chairman Dr Nizar Kochery presided over the meeting and vice chairman, KC Abdul Latheef, general convener VC Mashood, subcommittee leaders, Sameer Eramala, Mohamed Faizal, Sadiq Chennadan, Zameel Abdul Wahid, and Ameen Asif AbdulRasheed also took part.
PCCQ officals at the meeting
“We expect to arrange the flight by the end of this month most probably by June 29 or 30. As soon as we close the registration on Sunday, 7 pm, if there are more number of applicants, we will shortlist the number of applicants purely on merit of the most deserving cases,” explained, Mashood.
The official said that the decision was taken considering the prevailing situation among some of the community members due to Covid-19 especially those who had reached here on ‘On arrival visa’, ‘visit visa’ as well as others on health and financial grounds.
This endeavour is sponsored by member organisations such as Incas Qatar, Cultural Forum, Samskrithi Qatar, Qatar Indian Islahi Centre, Centre for Indian Community, Indian Fraternity Forum, Indian Social Forum, Focus Qatar, KMCC, Chaliyar Doha and CIGI Doha Chapter in addition to several well-wishers.
‘As Keralites are the largest group among the Indian expatriates, the number of people who wish to fly to Kerala are also more. In the present situation, we have very limited flights to Kerala whereas the needy people who are waiting for their turn to travel are in large numbers. Therefore, the PCCQ decided to charter a free flight to Kochi for the stranded, distressed and most deserving with the sole motto- ‘Humanity Above All’ and make a difference in their lives,” added the official.
He also noted that depending on the emerging scenario, the organisation will take appropriate decisions later about flights to other destinations in Kerala.