HK residents stuck in India call for help as evacuation planned

HONG KONG-When Vinod Kantharia flew back to Hong Kong from India in early February, it never occurred to him that he might not see his family again for three months.

The days went by and the 42-year-old's wife and two daughters, all Hong Kong residents, are still locked down by an anti-pandemic order in Mumbai. Now he hopes the Hong Kong government will step in to help.

The family's travel plan was ill-timed, an unlucky break that hit millions of other travelers. They traveled to India before the Lunar New Year on family business intending to stay for two weeks.

While they were there, COVID-19 broke loose. As China was being ravaged by the coronavirus and every day came new reports saying how long the pathogen will last, Kantharia made up his mind to leave his family in Mumbai at a relative's place for extra weeks for their safety.

Three months later, his family is still in the South Asian country as the Indian government imposed a countrywide "total lockdown" in March. The epicenters of the disease quickly shifted to other parts of the world outside China and the lockdown has been extended until at least May 3.

These days, Kantharia is more worried than ever over his family's safety. His wife goes out every day into crowds of people, waiting in queues, in a three-hour ordeal to buy provisions. She does not have enough protective gear. Every time she goes out, she's exposed to high infection risks.

"Without the Hong Kong government's help, my family would have no choice but to stay there even longer," said the finance director of a manufacturing company in Hong Kong.

News that the government had brought back Hong Kong residents stranded in Hubei province, Japan, Peru, and most recently, Morocco, gave Kantharia hope.

The Hong Kong government evacuated 98 Hong Kong residents from Peru on April 3. And 27 others, stranded in Morocco, came back on April 10 via a chartered flight arranged by the Chinese Embassy in Morocco.

"The only question is why not India. It's not that far from here," said Kantharia, who has been living and working in Hong Kong for the past 10 years and considers the city home. His younger daughter was born here.

"It's not difficult to reach the airport as you have special assistance from local police. We have also seen special flights arranged by other governments to pick up their residents from various parts of India," he said.

Political parties across the spectrum have urged the government to arrange more charter flights and charge evacuees to get aboard.

Kantharia's family members are three of some 2,000 Hong Kong residents stuck in different regions of India, according to lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, chairwoman of the New People's Party.

There are about 700 in Gujarat and Maharashtra and more than 1,000 in New Delhi. Many went to India on holiday during the Lunar New Year, Ip said.

As of Wednesday, India had reported more than 20,000 coronavirus cases, the fourth highest in Asia, with at least 652 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Lawmakers weighing in

Seven members of Harjit Singh's family have also been stranded since mid-March in Punjab, a state in northwest India. Singh said they had run out of regular medications. At night, there's no electricity regularly.

It seems even worse for Hong Kong people of Chinese origin stuck in India. Lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun said the pandemic has set off anti-Chinese sentiment there.

Some are verbally abused, turned away from hostels and some have to find a place to sleep out in the open, she added.

After meeting lawmakers and representatives of stranded families on April 16, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu said support would be provided for residents stranded away from home. He cautioned that operational and logistics difficulties need to be worked out, including transport availability and quarantine arrangements.

Lawmaker Vincent Cheng Wing-shun from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong suggested the government come to the aid of stranded Hong Kong residents in India, Pakistan and Nepal. He said he had calls from pregnant women who need help, people with chronic illnesses and several candidates likely to miss this year's Hong Kong university entrance exam set for Friday.

The Immigration Department had requested all details of stranded residents be sent before April 19, according to Kantharia, who's hoping to hear positive news this week.

As of Wednesday, the Security Bureau and the Immigration Department had not responded to a request for an update from China Daily.