Delhi/Thiruvanathapuram: A war of words on Thursday broke out between Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over evacuation of 29 Indians from war-torn Libya.
29 Indians, including five infants in the age group of one and half and two years and a pregnant nurse, have been rescued from Libya, with nine families belonging to Kerala and three to Tamil Nadu.
Out of the total, 16 are from Kerala.
The Keralites, including children, reached Kochi this morning.
The EAM, who is recuperating in AIIMS where she was admitted on April 25, posted a series of tweets regarding the evacuation.
Mr.Chandy - We evacuated thousands of Indians from Kerala from Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Who paid for them ?
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 12, 2016
Mr.Chandy - You said 'Kerala paid for 29 Indians evacuated from Libya.'
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 12, 2016
Mr.Chandy - You started this debate - as to Who paid ? Not me. We always did this because this is our pious duty towards our citizens.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 12, 2016
Chandy too tweeted about the whole matter:
Safe return of families from Libya pic.twitter.com/pxpcKvqbua
— Oommen Chandy (@Oommen_Chandy) May 12, 2016
Meanwhile, most nurses claimed that though they had got in touch with the office of EAM and Chandy's office, there was no help.
"There were a lot of promises, but no help", one of them said, adding they had to pay about Rs nine lakh to buy tickets, as per PTI.
"Since the past one month, it was a miserable existence for us. There was a problem for food and medicines," another nurse said.
One of the nurses, hailing from Kozhencherry, said she and her three member family were in Libya for the last five years.
"We were unable to withdraw money from banks due to the situation there. CM Chandy called us to ask about our plight," she told reporters.
Non-Resident Keralite Affairs CEO R S Kannan said the expenses to purchase tickets would be reimbursed to them.
The stranded passengers had reached Tripoli yesterday and NORKA was in touch with the Indian ambassador to Libya, Asar H Khan, who is presently based in Malta, Kannan said.
The stranded Indians had travelled from Tripoli to Istanbul and then to Dubai to arrive at Kochi this morning, he said.
The three families from Tamil Nadu have gone to Chennai from Dubai, he said.
Most of them who returned are from Ernakulam, Thirissur and Pathnamthitta districts.
(With PTI inputs)
