The United Democratic Front (UDF) lead opposition staged a statewide protest against the Kerala Government's decision to charge NRIs returning from abroad for institutional quarantine.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala while inaugurating the protest outside the secretariat, said that the government's decision to charge for institutional quarantine is cruel and that the government is insulting the NRIs by considering them as paying guests.
Chennithala further accused Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan of insulting the NRIs. "On an average three Malayalees die abroad on a daily basis. The government did nothing for the people who died abroad," said Chennithala.
"MPLAD fund has amended now. People are donating to the Chief Minister's disaster fund. Rs 2,000 crores have been collected in the fund, why can't the government use this fund to give institutional quarantine to NRIs free of cost," said Chennithala.
"Now poor NRIs who are not in a privileged category are returning. The opposition is pointing out government's lapses, but the government is not ready to rectify it," he added.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had expressed inability to provide quarantine facilities for "lakhs of people" coming to the state and said that people will have to pay for it.
( With inputs from ANI )