Navy to accuse Indian citizens it evacuates

INS Jalashwa displayed a “thank you” message to honor frontline workers in the fight against Covid-19.

The government will for the first time accuse Indian citizens being evacuated by Indian Navy ships. The Navy’s previous evacuation operations were not charged to the passengers.

The Indian High Commission in Male told the stranded Indians on Thursday that they will have to pay $ 40, about 3,028 rupees, as “evacuation service charge” for the INS Jalashwa repatriation on Friday.

In February-March 2011, during the Arab Spring, when an operation was carried out to evacuate 16,400 Indians from Libya, Indian Navy ships INS Jalashwa, INS Mysore and INS Aditya entered service, but the evacuees did not collect no payment.

The decision to charge the Indians this time stems from the guidelines of the Ministry of the Interior, which said: “The cost of the trip, as specified by the Ministry of Civil Aviation or the Department of Military Affairs, will be borne by said travelers “

While Air India is charging for the evacuation of Indians from different parts of the world, the Indian Navy or Air Force has never accused the Indians of evacuating them.

Constantino Xavier, member (foreign policy) of the New Delhi-based group of experts Brookings India, told The Indian Express: “Involving the Navy in repatriation poses a dilemma. It is probably a bad optics to see Indian citizens breaking through on an Indian Navy ship to ensure safe passage home, which would also run counter to the spirit of service of the military. On the other hand, if they are exempt from the MHA / MEA pay-as-you-go principle, there will be resentment among citizens of other countries who will have to buy their way home on an Air India plane, “he said, noting that citizens Malé arrive at their homes free of INS, but from Dhaka they have to pay Rs 12,000.

In any case, armies often participate only as an auxiliary force when evacuation operations are carried out in a volatile security context, especially in conflict areas, such as in Yemen (2015). In the current crisis, with the government focusing on civilian evacuation for commercial purposes in peacetime, it may make more sense to use the Indian Navy and Air Force to deliver supplies, medical assistance and safe passage, “he said.

In his article on “Expat Evacuation Operations in India: Bringing the Diaspora Home”, published in Carnegie India in January 2017, Xavier, who has conducted research on all evacuation operations in India from 1947 to 2016 , he wrote: “The navy, in many ways, has already taken the lead, with its 2007 maritime strategy listing ‘actions to assist the Indian diaspora and Indian interests abroad’ as a ‘likely scenario’ for the use of the military force. ”In the document, Xavier quoted then-Navy chief Admiral NK Verma in 2011, who described these evacuation operations as a” new priority. “

According to the Navy, it launched Operation “Samudra Setu”, which means “Bridge of the Sea”, as part of a national effort to repatriate Indian citizens from abroad. Indian naval vessels Jalashwa and Magar will evacuate 1,000 people, taking into account COVID-related social distancing standards regarding cargo capacity and available medical facilities on board. “Evacuated personnel will be landed in Kochi, Kerala and entrusted to the care of state authorities,” he said.

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