A two-day diaspora meet organised here by the Kerala government proved to be a damp squib, with very thin attendance and participants complaining of high airfares to the Middle East.
Samavayam, the annual meeting of non-resident Keralites (NRKs) that concludes here Saturday, saw less than 300 expatriates taking part.
"Look, we are greeted into this hall by an advertisement of Air-India and it mentions very low fares of Rs.2,750. We wish to know who is flying at this rate. They have taken all of us for a ride," said an angry NRK.
Said another: "In reality what we are given to understand is that Air-India is to charge Rs.13,650 from Aug 15, and this fare is higher than the fares of other foreign carriers who charge Rs.12,500."
Government officials, however, tried to pass the buck.
"We are not running away from criticism because the Kerala government has no control over Air-India," said M.M. Hassan, chairman of Roots-Norka, the government body that looks into the affairs of NRKs.
"You should understand that Air-India is a commercial organisation and we are now going to air our long standing grievances to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Aug 16 and we expect he would look into the soaring airfares of Air-India to the Middle East."
{{/usCountry}}"You should understand that Air-India is a commercial organisation and we are now going to air our long standing grievances to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Aug 16 and we expect he would look into the soaring airfares of Air-India to the Middle East."
{{/usCountry}}Even though it had been announced that V. Thulasidas, chairman and managing director of Air-India, would be present at the event, he did not turn up, sending his junior colleagues to face the music instead.
Ever since the much hyped Air-India Express budget flights were launched here May 29 promising to fly passengers at costs of Rs.3,750-Rs.6,750, NRKs have been more angry than before - as the fares ironically appear to be beyond the reach of many now.
"This clearly shows the inefficiency of people running NRK affairs in Kerala," said K. Muraleedhran, president of the Kerala Association of Travel Agents.
"Many of those who run the show are merely interested in publicity and this is the umpteenth time both Air-India and the Kerala government have been taking hapless NRKs for a ride by mere assurances. The need of the hour is the political will to get things done."
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said: "We are going to make another determined effort and we expect that the meeting with Singh later this month would yield results."