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Bohra chief and 200 followers coming here for retreat
View(s):The Government is to grant clearance for a special flight carrying the Head of the Dawoodi Bohra community and 200 followers who wish to spend time at a retreat in Bandarawela till the COVID-19 pandemic in India eases, authoritative sources said.
The aircraft is to arrive in the next few days from Mumbai, they added, and the leader His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin is also expected to be on board. Sri Lanka has become a favoured destination of the community in the recent past. Last year, the sect’s annual Ashara Mubaraka gathering was held here, drawing thousands of followers.
Meanwhile, there are no flights till at least June 11 for Sri Lankan workers who wish to return from West Asia. The repatriation of 275 Sri Lankans from Dubai — tentatively planned for this week — did not materialise. A Maldives flight was put on hold before being cancelled. The next confirmed SriLankan Airlines flights were to be on Friday from London and on June 11 from Manila, Philippines.
Local Police have been deployed at Sri Lanka’s missions in Seychelles, the Maldives and Kuwait to “protect” diplomats from workers who are incensed at not being able to return home.
Now, Lebanese authorities have also granted Sri Lanka’s ambassador round-the-clock protection with one armed policeman travelling in her vehicle. The embassy is guarded by both uniformed and plainclothed policemen.
Sri Lankan officials are concerned that another flight from West Asia will lead to a drastic spike in COVID-19 cases here, as was seen when workers returned from Kuwait. At present, 72 percent of the 466 who arrived from that country have tested positive for the virus.
“With an election coming, the Government is worried that an increase in cases will be politically disastrous,” an authoritative source said.
“But people who have lost their jobs are on the streets. Some have turned to begging. And the longer they are kept over there, the more likely they are to get infected.”
Sri Lanka’s missions abroad are distributing dry rations. Starting this week, ready-to-eat food packs are also being airlifted to the Maldives. About Rs 150mn has been allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Relations to provide dry rations and packs of food to those stranded abroad. The Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment is also spending a large amount for the same purpose.
In African countries also, there are about 300 Sri Lankans waiting to return. “Most people here don’t know there are many Sri Lankan factories in Africa,” the source said.
Officials here said they were concerned about bringing back Sri Lankan workers who were affected by Covid-19 due to the impact it would have on hospital facilities available here. “Quarantine centres are less of a problem,” one said. He did not wish to be named.
Countries have been categorised as high, medium and low-risk, with the Government targeting returnees from the last category first. “We have to plan this carefully because we will need to enhance hospital and testing capacity,” he pointed out. “There is also a question of health staff and the danger of fatigue. We also don’t have enough virologists. And what will be the spillover effect to the community?”
With the sheer numbers wishing to return, even if 600 were brought back each week, it would take one-and-a-half years to complete the transfers, he said. (There are 41,000 wanting to return).
Hospital, military and other service providers will have to be synchronised. “From the point of landing, through immigration, the bus, to quarantine, testing and hospital admission, people are exposed,” he said.