New Delhi [India], May 5 (ANI): As India prepares to carry out its biggest evacuation during the coronavirus pandemic, over 3 lakh people in the Gulf region alone have registered themselves to return home, sources said on Tuesday.
However, at the moment, India is planning to bring back only those citizens who are registered under the category of compelling cases. “More than 3 lakh people have registered in the Gulf (region) alone.
We will only be bringing back the people who are registered under compelling cases. Our missions are on the ground. They will determine the ground of compelling reasons,” sources said. “We will be getting back only to Indian citizens. No Overseas Citizens of India (OCI),” sources added.
Sources further said that in the first week from May 7 onwards, 64 flights will be sent to 12 countries to bring back Indians from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Maldives, Singapore, and the US.
Earlier in the day, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced that the government would operate at least 64 flights between May 7 and May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indians stranded in other countries, in one of the country’s biggest evacuations during the coronavirus pandemic.
“64 flights will be operated in the first week of operation t bring stranded Indians from different countries from May 7 to May 13,” said Puri while addressing a video press conference. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday also tweeted, saying that the country has started to prepare for ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ to repatriate Indians citizens from abroad.
“Commenced preparations for Vande Bharat Mission. Planning underway for stranded Indian nationals to return home starting May 7. Urge them to keep in regular touch with their Embassies,” Jaishankar wrote on Twitter.
MEA appoints state-level coordinators to facilitate returns of stranded Indians from abroad
New Delhi [India], May 06 (ANI): Ministry of External Affairs has appointed state-level coordinators to ensure close coordination with various ministries, state government, and the center during the return of hundreds of thousands of India ns stranded around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The ministry has constituted a team of 17 members from the Ministry of External Affairs to undertake the coordination of repatriation of Indian nationals after the Ministry of Home Affairs announced its plans to evacuate over 14,000 people from 13 different countries.
The MEA has appointed Harish Parvathaneni as a coordinator for Andhra Pradesh, Alok Ranjan Jha for Bihar, Neena Malhotra for Delhi and Haryana, Dinesh Patnaik for Gujarat, Yogeshwar Sangwan for J&K and Ladakh.
The ministry has appointed Manish as a coordinator for Jharkhand, Nagma Malik for Karnataka, Vikram Doraiswami for Kerala, Suresh Reddy for Maharashtra, Rahul Srivastava for Odisha, Virender Paul for Punjab, Manoj Bharti for Rajasthan and Goa C Rajasekhar has been appointed as the coordinator for Tamil Nadu, B Bala Bhaskar is a coordinator of Telangana, Akhilesh Mishra for Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Arun Chatterjee for West Bengal, Robert Shetkintong for other parts of the country.
According to the MEA plan shared with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) that is set to begin from May 7, approximately 14,800 passengers will be evacuated from 13 different countries. Flights from India will fly to the Philippines, Singapore, Bangladesh, UAE, UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Phillippines, USA, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
The first day of evacuation will see 10 flights repatriate to 2300 India ns. Medical screening of passengers would be done before taking the flight and only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel.
On reaching the destination, everyone would have to register on the Arogya Setu app and everyone would be medically screened, the statement further said. After scrutiny, they would be quarantined for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on payment-basis, by the concerned state government.
COVID-19 test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols. The respective state governments are being advised to make arrangements, including for testing, quarantine, and onward movement of the returning India ns in their respective states. (ANI)Â
