Frustrated Australians in COVID-ravaged India: Scott Morrison had one job to do

Australian families stuck in India are demanding answers from the government after Prime Minister Scott Morrison banned commercial and repatriation flights.

Australians stranded in COVID-ravaged India say the federal government’s beleaguered vaccine rollout is the reason they can’t come home.

About 9000 Australians are stuck in India as it battles a deadly second wave of the coronavirus and it is uncertain when they will be able to return after Prime Minister Scott Morrison banned commercial and repatriation flights from the nation.

Canberra woman Kathleen Bhagat went to India with husband Shekhar and their children, Sameer, 9, and Shreya, 6, following her mother-in-law’s sudden death from cancer.

The family were meant to be on a repatriation flight next month but are now stranded in Kolkata in Eastern India.

Canberra family Kathleen and Shekhar Bhagat are stuck in Calcutta, India with their children Sameer and Shreya. Picture: Supplied

“(It feels like) the Australian government is not interested in us. They are playing politics. I fully understand that you need to protect the community in Australia but you can’t leave people stranded when something like this has erupted and give them no certainty about the future,” the 46-year-old told The Daily Telegraph.

“I get that there is a risk to the community but what has the government been doing for a year-and-a-half? They have outsourced quarantine to the states and they couldn’t even get the vaccination done. Why are people not getting vaccinated? He (Mr Morrison) had one job to do.

India’s deadly COVID-19 second wave has seen death tolls rise sharply. Picture: Tauseef Mustafa/ AFP

“Which other country in the world is stopping their own citizens from coming back? They got people back from Wuhan through Christmas Island and what not, so surely there is a way.”

Mrs Bhagat said she and her children have stayed inside their apartment accommodation to avoid seeing the devastation on the streets.

“People say ‘Well why did you go?’, we came because the situation was not like this and we thought we were doing the right thing. We were all very close to my mother-in-law. She held my son before I did,” he said.

The family to India in March for a family funeral. Picture: Supplied

“We don’t leave the apartment and we order stuff online. (But) I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know someone who has COVID or who is very sick. We had a family member pass away a couple of days ago.

“We are safe and fine but my greatest fear is the what if. What if we get sick, will we get medical attention?”

She added that the government had done little to get Australians stuck overseas home, despite claims to the contrary.

“For the government to say they got 19,000 Australians back is misleading. Most of those people came on commercial flights. Some of those private chartered flights, you pay your money and if god forbid you get COVID and can’t fly, you don’t get your money back.”

Australians in India can still arrive in the country through Qatar and China thanks to a loophole and flights are expected to arrive with returnees this week.