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Call to scrap user fee at Cochin airport

DUBAI - A number of Indian associations in Dubai and the Northern Emirates have hailed the Indian government's decision to withdraw the user fee of Dh375 at the Calicut Airport in Kerala.

They have also urged the government to do away with the user fee levied on Indian expatriates at the Nedumbassery airport in Cochin.

The Sharjah-based Centre for Non-resident Indians and Returnees (CNIR) said in a Press release that its members had protested both at the Cochin airport and the Trivandrum Secretariate to pressurise the government to withdraw the user fee from the Nedumbassery airport. It said that if the authorities did not take an immediate step towards withdrawing the fee at Nedumbassery airport, then a case would be filed at the Kerala High Court.

According to Y.A Rahim, CNIR Chairman, there are also a number of other issues affecting the large expatriate Malayalee population in the UAE including the hike in air fares to Kerala, the rehabilitation of Gulf returnees, facility for attestation of certificates of job-seekers from India, establishment of NRI Cooperative Banks to offer facilities like loans to NRIs and launch of a social insurance programme for NRIs working for low salaries in the Gulf.

N.P Ramachandran, President of Dubai Priyadarshini, welcomed the decision to withdraw the user fee at the Calicut airport and said that it is imperative that the same rule be applied at the Nedumbassery airport. According to him, Dubai Priyadarshini was spearheading the campaign for popularising the government-sponsored scheme "Swashraya."

The United Malayalee Association has also hailed the decision of withdrawing the user fee at the Calicut airport.