A prominent Indian politician visiting the Kingdom said on Friday he will request the Indian central government to restore rice exports to Saudi Arabia. “I will ask the Indian government to lift the ban on the export of rice to the Kingdom,” said Oomen Chandy, Kerala State legislative assembly opposition leader and former minister, “not only as a gesture of goodwill to this country, but also to help Indian workers who are dependent on rice as their staple food.” He said he had already discussed the issue with India's Minister of Commerce, who promised to take the necessary steps to either ease or totally lift the ban. In a meeting with the Indian community in Eastern Province, Chandy was asked to work out the restoration of India's rice exports to the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia imports about one million tons of rice annually, 70 percent of which is supplied by India. Members of the Indian community also reiterated their demand that an Indian consulate be established in the Eastern Province. Chandy also promised to bring up this demand with the central government of India. He said improving the services of the Air India has been a topic of debate for the past 30 years, yet nothing has been done about it. Chandy said the solution to the problem of the shortage of seats for Kerala-bound workers is to establish their own state-owned airline. He said discussions to establish a budget airline, to be called Kerala Airlines, is in its initial stages. “This will bring to an end the travel troubles many are facing, and I have learned that there are many Indians here who haven't gone back to visit their relatives for long periods of time due to economic reasons, such as the high cost of air tickets,” he said. “To solve this, we have planned to reserve 15 seats in every flight of Kerala Airlines for those who haven't travelled to India for more than five years in a row, and they have to pay only 25 percent of the already low price of the flight ticket.” __
