[ad_1]
Hundreds of Indians stranded in at least seven countries due to the coronavirus pandemic will fly home on Saturday on special Air India flights under the Vande Bharat Mission, India’s gigantic repatriation operation.
Four flights carrying Indian citizens under the Vande Bharat mission will arrive from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Delhi at 3 p.m., Kuwait to Hyderabad at 6:30 p.m., Muscat from Oman to Cochin at 8:50 p.m. and Sharjah from the United Arab Emirates to Lucknow at 8:50 p.m.
Four others will come from Kuwait and land in Cochin at 9:15 p.m., Kaula Lampur from Malaysia to Trichy at 9:40 p.m., London from the United Kingdom to Mumbai at 1:30 a.m. May 20 and Doha from Qatar to Cochin at 1:40 a.m.
This is the first phase of Vande Bharat’s massive mission. It started on May 7 and will run until May 13 and involves the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In Vande Bharat’s first week, 64 flights are expected to bring home 15,000 Indian nationals from 12 countries.
India will expand its mega mission Vande Bharat starting next week to evacuate stranded citizens from abroad including countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Germany, Spain and Thailand, official sources said on Friday.
All international passengers will be charged for the journey and fares from the Gulf countries to Kerala range from Rs 15,000 to Rs 16,000. Rescue flights from London will cost Rs 50,000 and those from the United States Rs 1,00,000.
At least 300,000 people have registered to return to West Asia alone, but authorities are focusing only on “compelling cases.”
Priority will be given to “asymptomatic” migrant workers abroad who have been laid off, short-term visa holders who are expired (visas), people with medical emergencies, pregnant women, the elderly, students and those They must return to India due to the death of a family member.
All those traveling back will have to undergo strict detection processes and download the Aarogya Setu application. The evacuated citizens will be sent to institutional quarantine facilities established by various state governments.
Pregnant women, people in need of immediate treatment, those returning to attend ceremonies related to the death of a close relative, older people in need of ongoing assistance, and children under the age of 10 will be able to go home where they will be under strict home quarantine (self-isolation) for 14 days, authorities said.
Nearly 7,000 stranded Indian nationals in the Maldives were also evacuated from the picturesque island nation on Friday by an Indian Navy warship. INS Jalashwa, the navy’s amphibious warship, arrived in Male on Thursday to undertake the massive repatriation mission called “Operation Samudra Setu”.
Male’s first naval ship is expected to arrive at the Cochin port on May 10, Port Trust officials in Kochi said.
All national and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended during the three-phase blockade starting on March 25 and continuing until May 17.
.
[ad_2]
