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Shaju Philip
The | New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram |
Updated: May 6, 2020 7:47:29 am
Navy ships will be used to evacuate people from the Maldives and the UAE. (Figurative)
Starting Thursday, India will operate 64 flights through May 13 and use three Navy ships, as part of Phase I of an evacuation plan, to bring home nearly 15,000 Indians stranded abroad.
According to a schedule prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the first of 64 flights will carry 209 passengers from Abu Dhabi to Cochin International Airport on May 7.
Another flight will carry 200 passengers from Dubai to Kozhikode the same day.
Navy ships will be used to evacuate people from the Maldives and the UAE.
For Kerala, this poses a new challenge given the large number of expatriates returning home. In the first phase of evacuation, Kerala expects 2,250 people to return.
After a review meeting, Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said: “Kerala has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the Covid-19 test is conducted for all passengers before taking the flight to India. We have reminded the Prime Minister that India brought stranded passengers into Italy and Iran after Indian medical teams went there and subjected evacuees to the Covid-19 test. If the Center is not ready, we are ready to send medical teams. “
“If one or two aboard the flight have the virus, all passengers will be at risk. This will increase the risk of the infection spreading not only in Kerala but across the country. It is important that our brothers get home. But we cannot relax in security measures and established protocols. We have asked the Center to review its decision, “said Vijayan.
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Between May 7 and 13, India plans to operate 10 flights from the United Arab Emirates, seven flights each from the United States, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh and Malaysia, five each from Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Kuwait and the Philippines, and two flights from Qatar, Oman and Bahrain
Of the 64 flights, 15 would be to Kerala, 11 to Delhi and Tamil Nadu, seven to Maharashtra and Telangana, and the rest to Gujarat, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh.
Priority will be given to Indians in “distress”. The categories listed by the MHA were brought up first: “dismissed migrant workers, short-term visa holders with expired visas, people with medical emergencies, pregnant women, the elderly, those who must return to India due to the death of a family member, students. “
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Tickets for these flights, which will be operated by Air India, must be purchased by passengers.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told reporters: “How we step up operations after the first week depends on factors such as our first week experience: states’ readiness to receive people on these flights. in terms of quarantine centers and hospitals, and the behavior of the virus. For those who are really stranded and unable to pay, the government will also analyze their case. “
Separately, the Indian Navy deployed three ships Monday night for Operation Samudra Setu. As INS Jalashwa and INS Magar set sail for the Maldives to begin the evacuation from May 8, another ship, INS Shardul, departed for Dubai.
Sources said this plan could turn out to be the country’s largest evacuation operation. While the numbers are dynamic, they could go as high as 2 lakh Indians – the only playbook that New Delhi has, in terms of scale, is the 1990 1.7-lakh people airlift of Kuwait after its invasion of Iraq.
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The MHA said Monday that “medical screening of passengers” would be carried out before a flight. “Only asymptomatic passengers could travel,” he said.
“Upon arrival at the destination, everyone would have to register in the Aarogya Setu application. They would all be medically examined. After the scrutiny, the state government in question would quarantine them for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine for a fee. The COVID test will be performed after 14 days and additional measures will be taken according to health protocols. State governments are advised to make arrangements, ”he said.
Concerned, Kerala has already changed its quarantine strategy. All passengers, symptomatic and asymptomatic, arriving at state airports will have to go through seven days of quarantine at a government-sponsored facility. On the seventh day, they will undergo the RT-PCR test and those who are negative will be sent home for another week of quarantine.
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Prime Minister Vijayan said the government will bear the costs of the quarantine. “Since there is no evidence abroad, we are forced to examine all of it.”
Up to 4.42 lakh people from Kerala have registered their names with the state agency for the welfare of expatriates.
The state disaster management authority and the PWD have identified 2.50 lakh beds in Kerala for quarantine purposes. Of these, 1.63 lakh beds are ready to use. Empty houses, where people can be placed in isolation, have been identified by local self-government agencies.
– With Pranav Mukul, Krishn Kaushik in New Delhi
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