India has launched a massive evacuation operation to bring back Indians stranded in different parts of the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Indian government will launch the world’s largest evacuation mission to bring back lakhs of Indians stranded abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic this week. At least 10 flights will be operated on Thursday, the first day of the operation. This will be followed by flights over the coming days to, among other places, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
State-run carrier Air India will operate special flights from New Delhi, Cochin and Kozhikode to Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively as part of the Vande Bharat Mission.
These six states – which together form the grouping Gulf Cooperation Council – have had long economic, cultural and diasporic ties with India. By some estimates, eight to nine million Indians work in the region. Half of them are unskilled, 30% semi-skilled, and the rest skilled. Altogether, they contribute half of the foreign exchange remittances to India – not an insignificant amount when the total is $69 billion, or Rs 5.2 lakh crore.
The flights under the mission will start operating from Thursday. A total of 2,300 passengers will be brought back today, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said on Twitter today.
India has launched a massive evacuation operation to bring back Indians stranded in different parts of the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Indian government will launch the world’s largest evacuation mission to bring back lakhs of Indians stranded abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic this week. At least 10 flights will be operated on Thursday, the first day of the operation. This will be followed by flights over the coming days to, among other places, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
State-run carrier Air India will operate special flights from New Delhi, Cochin and Kozhikode to Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively as part of the Vande Bharat Mission.
These six states – which together form the grouping Gulf Cooperation Council – have had long economic, cultural and diasporic ties with India. By some estimates, eight to nine million Indians work in the region. Half of them are unskilled, 30% semi-skilled, and the rest skilled. Altogether, they contribute half of the foreign exchange remittances to India – not an insignificant amount when the total is $69 billion, or Rs 5.2 lakh crore.
The flights under the mission will start operating from Thursday. A total of 2,300 passengers will be brought back today, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said on Twitter today.
On Tuesday, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs stated that a person who has an OCI card, or held the citizenship of a foreign country, or held a valid visa of more than one year of that country, or had the green card of that country, can travel on the repatriation flight leaving India under the Vande Bharat mission.
India has been under a lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19. All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this lockdown period.
However, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights and special flights permitted by the aviation regulator DGCA have been allowed to operate during this time.
On Tuesday, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs stated that a person who has an OCI card, or held the citizenship of a foreign country, or held a valid visa of more than one year of that country, or had the green card of that country, can travel on the repatriation flight leaving India under the Vande Bharat mission.
India has been under a lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19. All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this lockdown period.
However, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights and special flights permitted by the aviation regulator DGCA have been allowed to operate during this time.