One member of the Greater Sudbury community is safely back home after being stranded in India for more than eight weeks, thanks in part to a social group he started for those in a similar predicament.
Karanbir Singh Badesha, like more than 40,000 Canadian citizens and what he says are thousands of permanent residents, including himself, and international students, have been grounded in India since its sudden country-wide lockdown March 25.
Canada’s repatriation efforts, spearheaded by Global Affairs Canada, has partnered with countries across the world to arrange transportation for around 25,000 Canadian citizens stranded abroad. An effort that included more than 40 flights from around 30 countries.
Unlike those Canadian citizens, though, Badhesha told Sudbury.com this second population of permanent residents and international students has been last on the list for repatriation flights, forcing him and many others to make risky alternative arrangements.
Badesha was born in India, but moved to Sudbury in 2015 to attend Cambrian College, where he later graduated with a diploma from the school’s motive power technician service and management program in 2017.
Finding a home for himself in the North, Badhesha began his application for permanent residence shortly thereafter and was approved this past January. After being approved, he began planning a trip to visit his family in India and arrived a month later on Feb. 20, for what was intended as a 45-day trip.
But clearly, that did not go according to plan.
On March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced what has been deemed the world’s largest lockdown, affecting the lives of 1.3 billion citizens. With four hours’ notice, the public was instructed to quarantine in their homes until further notice with no clear provisions in place for the distribution of food, water, necessities or how to socially distance in their living quarters.
All schools, offices, factories, parks, temples, railways and airspace were closed, as well as the borders between states, prohibiting all travel. Grocery stores, banks, gas stations and some other essential services were permitted to remain open.
This lockdown was extended for a fourth time on May 20 to May 31. With this latest revision, state governments have been granted the authority to declare the previously introduced zoning codes — red, orange, and green — as well as containment and buffer zones in those areas most affected by COVID-19.
Rules have been relaxed in areas considered low-risk or with a lower number of cases, such as those related to business operation and public transportation. Domestic travel has also been permitted to resume May 25, at a reduced capacity.
International flights, on the other hand, remain strictly prohibited, aside from those transporting individuals stranded abroad either to or from India. This list of approved flights continues to expand, said Badhesha, but a sizeable population of around 15,000 permanent Canadian residents and international students studying in Canada are still unable to return to the country.
Badhesha was staying with his parents and grandmother at the time of the lockdown, as luck would have it, and has remained there since. Situated on an operational farm in the countryside, he said his family home has been the ideal place to quarantine. His concerns lay rather with his professional and personal life in his newfound home in Canada.
He has since been laid off from his position as motel manager and is concerned about finding another job in the hospitality industry. On top of that, he missed the friends he had made here deeply. It is precisely these issues that led Badhesha to the platform that would eventually get him in the air.
While in quarantine, Badhesha came across a Facebook page created by an individual in Abbotsford, B.C., designed to share information relevant to those trying to return to the country from India. The page was dedicated to Canadian citizens, but the idea led Badhesha to launch an ongoing group chat on a platform known as WhatsApp with similar motivations.
The group chat he started for stranded students and permanent residents grew to number 254, but that group’s combined contact lists boosted their social media reach by more than double. The group was able to pool their resources to help each other cope with the lockdown and find ways of returning to Canada safely. None of these individuals was known to him prior to the pandemic, but all have since become close friends, with plans to meet in person once the current health crisis has subsided.
"It’s more like a family now,” Badhesha said. “We know each other by name, we know our stories — we are more connected with each other."
Some of these individuals are students, others are permanent residents, but all, he said, are desperate to return to the lives they have made for themselves in Canada. One group member, for example, is the sole provider for his wife and two children, five and seven years old, and is desperate to get home.
Another group member suffered the death of his mother while stranded abroad, unable to say his final goodbyes. These, said Badhesha, are just a sample of those affected by the pandemic in varying degrees.
"There are also people here for vacation who don’t have any home. They’re stuck, they have nowhere to go."
Able to accomplish more together than solo, Badhesha said the group began tweeting, calling, and emailing both Canadian and Indian political leaders, as well as contacting news media in both countries to share stories of their plight. Whether these efforts resulted in the additional repatriation flights to Canada is difficult to say, but either way, it kept the group informed and proactive in finding a resolution.
In early May, Badhesha said flights were announced from India to England with the potential for a connecting flight the next day to Canada. These were government-approved but risky, he said, as there was a chance hopeful travellers could be stranded in a country unknown to them.
On top of that, Badhesha said there was concern that travelling through multiple international airports would introduce a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19. Regardless, two of his group members took the risk on May 11 and May 13.
Their successful journey convinced Badhesha to book a flight with the same route for May 22, which in the end, would be his ticket home. Now safely back in the North, his efforts to help other Indian residents return to their newfound homes continues.
Badhesha said around 200 of his group members remain stranded in India, along with two residents of Greater Sudbury that he is aware of. More air travel is being announced weekly to resolve this, he said, but with flights costing nearly triple their normal price, finances are also an issue.
Many, including himself, have received assistance through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which in his case, has been enough to supplement any funds needed for travel. Those with larger families or who are under greater financial pressures, however, have been faced with the choice to wait for a more affordable option or accept a loan from the federal government.
With these individuals in mind, Badhesha has asked the public to spread awareness for those stranded in India and contact federal officials with any means necessary to bring these individuals home safely. The best individuals to contact in this instance would be Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
"We want the Canadian government to repatriate permanent residents as well because they are equally contributing to the Canadian economy and their professional lives are in Canada, not in India."
"Their home is in Canada — they just want to come back to Canada."
Find more information on India's repatriation efforts by visiting the Ministry of Civil Aviation website, which can be translated into English on most browsers. The most recent list of approved flights can be found here.
