The English Fortnightly (Since November 1999) Issue 461 | May 15, 2021 | Free phone editor@ website facebook twitter linkedin 09 533 6377 indiannewslink.co.nz www.indiannewslink.co.nz /indiannewslink /indiannewslink /indiannewslink Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards 2018 Providing gold class service Winner to our valued customers Supreme Business of the Year Business Excellence in Multi-Ethnic staff from India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Marketing Best Employer of Choice Tonga, Samoa, Philippines and Nepal Raj Pradeep Singh Ashima Singh Shyama Sharma Best Medium-Sized Business Specialists in Sale and Purchase of Property & Business, Leases, Principal Partner Barrister and Solicitor Employment Law, Criminal Law, Family Law, Wills & Trusts, Immigration LLB/BA (Hons.) LLB/MIT/B.Com LLB/ DBM/ BA( Hons) Ashima Singh, Winner of the email: [email protected] Law- all types of visas and appeals (Initial Consultation Free) E: [email protected] E: [email protected]: [email protected] Best Businesswoman of the year 2016 Ph: (09) 2799439 | Level-1, 31 East Tamaki Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland 2025 | PO Box 200170, Papatoetoe Central, Auckland 2156 | www.legalassociates.co.nz Charter operators await approval to bring home New Zealanders Venkat Raman “I think that the word should go out unrecorded - but much higher. As I had “Organising flights is urgent, and the ew Zealand Indians, holding from the High Commissioner that there emphasised, we need to know the actual community is quite clear that people New Zealand passports are would be a charter flight, and then number of New Zealand citizens in India expect to pay for their travel,” he said. disparate to return home, all of people could register their interest,” he who are keen to return to New Zealand, Indeed, the cost factor is now becom- them saying that the situation in said. so that charter flights can be organised ing a little irrelevant. NIndia is scary. Registered Travellers accordingly. People from India are happy to pay The exact number of persons stranded According to RNZ, there are 664 regis- Multicultural New Zealand President whatever it takes to come back. New Zea- in India is not known but an official told tered New Zealand travellers in India. Pancha Narayanan said that charters must land is the safest country in the world. us that there were about 500-600 New The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and be operated and that no one was expecting Zealand citizens. Trade said the actual number was the government to pay for them. “The government has approved the Image from Auckland International Airport Facebook across to have their photo taken in travel of eligible dependents of New front of the Taj Mahal. Many, like Zealand citizens and hence the total New Zealand government must She, went to fulfil family commit- number of people could be about 1200,” ments. Nor are they looking for a he said. handout. They are willing to draw on Health Ministry review facilitate return of Kiwi Indians Her issue then became one of all available funds to secure a flight One operator is understood to have securing a place in quarantine. A to the place they now call home. received approval to operate a charter sleepless night of refreshing her Paucity of flights flight subject to ratification by the Minis- browser eventually yielded a spot As the death toll from Covid sur- try of Health. His application is currently but was soon met with an officious passed the quarter of a million mark under scrutiny. response with a subject heading this week, Kiwis in India are finding We have been receiving an increasing Jocelyn Prasad Migrants protest in New Delhi demanding right to in bold caps: ‘India Suspension of it increasingly difficult to get home. number of phone calls, emails and text return to New Zealand (Source: Facebook) hen my sister-in-law Travel – Voucher Holders.’ There is a paucity of flights and those messages from New Zealander Indians agencies (to whom I had spoken) were flew into Hyderabad in Apparently, because she was in a on offer are often cancelled at short in India demanding immediate action ready to go. late January (2021) to high-risk country, she was deemed notice. Even if a flight proceeds, by the government to bring them back “They as ready as anyone can expect. hold her dying mother’s as ‘not eligible for travel at this time.’ it often leaves from the hotspots home. One of them told me that they will be Whand, daily new cases of Covid-19 Her MIQ voucher would expire in 48 of Delhi or Mumbai, thus putting Disparate to return ready for repatriation flights by the end of in India were tracking at around hours, unless she responded to the travellers from less vulnerable areas “I have aged parents in New Zealand May; but it all depends on the government 14,000, which might seem dramatic email –“with evidence that you do at grave risk. and hence I am eager to return home. I regulations. He said that pressure on the from an Antipodean safe haven but, meet the criterial for travelling.” And if they are lucky enough to get came to India in March 2021 to see my government to make a decision on char- when compared to the 35,000 new Persistence is painful but pays a ticket to New Zealand, navigating a ailing brother. I am really worried not ter flights was building. I would suggest daily cases being recorded in the UK We were confounded. New seemingly unhospitable MIQ system only about my parents but also afraid of that the government might (soon) go into at the time, it was not so astonishing Zealand had lifted its travel ban on remains a sticking point. the Covid situation in India,” Abhishek a more serious stage of consultation on for a country of 1.4 billion. Indians; yet the MIQ system suggest- The New Zealand government said from Mumbai. approving these kinds of charter flights.” Like most of us, she had no idea ed that She was not welcome home. needs to help these vulnerable Satyanarayana, who lives in South Multicultural New Zealand organised that Indian Covid cases would After much scrambling and tena- citizens at a desperate time by either Island rushed to India two months ago a community meeting in Wellington on skyrocket. cious enquiry, it was established an working with airlines to secure to see his ailing father who died a day Thursday night to discuss the issue of When she started trying to return email from her confirming that she commercial flights or underwriting after his arrival. He had obtained his operating charter flights from India. to New Zealand in March, there were had a flight (despite having already repatriation flights. It also needs citizenship shortly before his departure Roundabout journey 16,000 new daily cases. This week, as proved this in her initial booking, guarantee MIQ spots to citizens in to India. Following is a Radio New Zealand new cases stood at 350,000 she was along with supplying passport India when they are able to secure “My employer has told me that if I do Report: still trying to leave. details) and that she had secured her passage home. These measures need not return before the end of May (2021), I It quoted Gurtej Singh, who was at the Matching flight with MIQ MIQ slot. It is easy to imagine though not be expensive, they just require stand the risk of losing my job. My prob- meeting as saying that some people were The issue for New Zealanders try- how others who received this email willingness and time. lem is the MIQ voucher without which I managing to leave, but it was not easy. ing to return from India is twofold: would have given up. New Zealanders in India are cannot board an aircraft. I have already “I know one case where he had to fly trying to get a flight home is almost She is lucky. As I write this, she is desperate to return to home. If the changed my flight twice at substantial to London, then to North America and impossible. And if you are lucky somewhere in the airspace between government feels that its obligations cost. I want my government to look after from there made his way to Auckland. enough to get one, securing a slot in Doha and Auckland. But, as Australia extend to protecting its most me. I am a New Zealand citizen,” he said. Commercial airlines remain uncommitted MIQ that marries with your flight is this week budgeted for more than vulnerable citizens, it must act with Radio New Zealand and Newstalk ZB to recommencing flights. I therefore want often not possible. 100 repatriation flights for its urgency. contacted me on Friday, May 14, 2021 to a targeted effort from our authorities to Last weekend, after weeks of stranded citizens, hundreds of Kiwis Jocelyn Prasad is a New Zealand born ask about repatriation flights. arrange charters from India to New Zealand,” searching, She found a flight home remain stuck in India. Indian of Fijian descent. She lives in Charterers ready Sydney, where she is a writer and media he said. via Qatar. These are not people who jetted RNZ quoted me as saying that travel Gurtej said that would be the best solution. adviser. Nomination Process: 13th Annual Indian Newslink Direct by Entrants; Get into your First Home with as little as Nominations for Individual Categories (14 to 18) by companies and individuals. BUSINESS Nominations by corporates, banks and financial institutions and chartered accountants for deposit* AWARDS companies and individuals with information prescribed in the entry forms available on the Awards website 2021 (www.inliba.com).