Pregnant Keralite woman in US finally set to return

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Much to the relief of the pregnant Keralite woman nearing her due date and stranded in the US, as reported in TOI recently, she has finally received a nod from the Indian consulate in Huston , Texas , to take a flight to Kochi on May 23.

A native of Thiruvananthapuram, Neena Ajitha is now in her eighth month of pregnancy and with limited scope for medical assistance there.

She had been seeking immediate evacuation. Besides, it would be technically impossible for her to board a flight after May, as she would be in her ninth month of pregnancy by then.

“We received the call from the Indian consulate (in Huston) on May 19 saying that we could board the Kochi-bound flight from San Francisco scheduled under the Vande Bharat Mission. We are now awaiting confirmed tickets from Air India,” said Ajitha’s husband Prashanth Venugopalan, an IT professional whose six-year H-1B visa expired recently.

Once the tickets get confirmed, the family, including their six-year-old daughter Bhadra, will take a 4-5 hour flight from Huston to San Fransisco and catch the Kochi-bound flight. “My wife is in good health and physically fit to travel now. After May, she wouldn’t have been able to board a flight,” Venugopalan said.

Around 100 Keralites will be among around 250 passengers (from regions including Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Huston and San Francisco) travelling in the flight which will have a technical stop in Delhi before heading for Kochi. The flight will be proceeding to Ahmedabad with the remaining passengers.

With the Covid-19 pandemic ruining their travel plans in March from Huston back to Kerala after the expiry of the visa, the family had written to Union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan seeking immediate evacuation, besides registering with Norka and the Indian embassy.

According to reports, there are scores of Malayali pregnant women, aged people and students in the US who are awaiting travel back to Kerala.