Nearly 550 Sri Lankans arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport on Friday from several countries as the Government expedited the repatriation of migrant workers.
People arrived from Qatar, Japan, Germany, Mali, Italy, the UK, Oman, Bangladesh, China and Ethiopia. They were directed to military-run quarantine centres by the Army.
The news comes after several protests were held urging the authorities to look into the migrant workers’ issues. Some took to social media claiming that they are charged an exorbitant amount to return to the country. The workers said they are made to agree to pay to stay at a hotel during the 14-day mandatory quarantine period.
Labour Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said the External Affairs Ministry and his Ministry in collaboration with the Sri Lankan missions abroad and the Labour Divisions at those missions and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment conducted data collection on Sri Lankans aspiring to return to the country.
After registering those expected to come to Sri Lanka, the Presidential Task Force (STF) analysed the data and compiled a list of those who are most at risk in the face of the global epidemic to bring them back to Sri Lanka. The Aviation Authorities and the External Affairs Ministry set up a joint mechanism.
“Sri Lankans are repatriated to the country through two main methods. One, via flights organised by the Government to bring those who are abroad and the other is via flights arriving in Sri Lanka according to a daily flight schedule,” the Minister said.
He added, “I regret to say that the price of air tickets has gone up compared to the previous year. One reason is due to travel bans and restrictions at airports, airlines have to charge higher prices as there is a minimum limit on the number of passengers on board aircraft.
“The next reason is due to the inability to bring the cargo and passenger transport of the aircraft to the desired level and due to the weight balancing measures, including the number of passengers to be carried out, it is necessary to charge more money to bring the foreign workers to Sri Lanka under the imposed health care schemes.
“Another reason is the need to direct the staff working in the airlines to a compulsory quarantine process and to maintain the required standards as per the health guidelines and to bear the extra cost of keeping the staff in foreign stops for a long time due to limited flights.”