Headlines
Kerala mulls registration for those travelling on vacation
Kannur (Kerala), May 1
Wiser after the Nepal
earthquake when locating Keralites became very difficult, the state
government is planning to put in place a mechanism for people from the
state to put up their details on Roots-Norka website when going out of
state for vacations, said a Kerala Minister.
State Minister for
Diaspora K.C. Joseph who returned from New Delhi after coordinating the
evacuation of Keralites from Nepal said today there is no mechanism to
trace Keralites during an emergency.
"What we plan is in the best
interest of our own people who travel outside the state and country for
vacations to register their contact details of a relative or a friend
at their home town and a likely itinerary of their travel on the
Roots-Norka website. Full confidentiality will be maintained and the
only aim is to help people if any emergency occurs in the place they
visit. Today what happens is none has any clue if a situation emerges
outside the state and we have no knowledge if any Keralite is caught in
it," said Joseph to IANS.
Joseph said this after visiting the home of a young Kerala doctor Deepak Thomas, who was killed in the Nepal earthquake.
Thomas
and his classmate A.S. Ershad were killed while another friend of
theirs Ebin Soorya is currently being treated in a Delhi hospital after
he was air-lifted from Nepal.
"At the next cabinet meeting, I
will raise this issue of opening the website for registration purposes.
This will benefit the people who travel and the state authorities also
can step into action quickly, if an emergency situation arises," added
Joseph.
He added that when in Delhi he had received numerous
calls from several quarters and everyone wanted to know how many
Keralites were in Nepal as none had any clue at all.
He said around 250 Keralites were evacuated from quake hit Nepa