The mission for the evacuation of the Indians stranded abroad is all set to commence at the earliest. Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri has said that 64 flights will be operated in the first week of operation to bring Indians from different countries from May 7 to May 13.
The Ministry of External Affairs has prepared a chart for the evacuation of 14,800 Indian nationals who are stranded in 12 foreign countries by 64 flights in the first week of operation. They will have to pay for the cost of the flights, and it will not be a free evacuation.
The 64 flights include 10 flights to the United Arab Emirates, 2 flights to Qatar, 5 flights will leave for Saudi Arabia, 7 to the United Kingdom, 5 to Singapore, 7 to the United States, 5 to the Philippines, 7 to Bangladesh, 2 for Bahrain, 7 for Malaysia, 5 for Kuwait and 2 for Oman, says the Aviation minister.
Approximately 14,800 passengers are to be evacuated
As per the joint plan of MEA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, approximately 14,800 passengers will be evacuated from 12 different countries. Flights from India will leave for the Philippines, Singapore, Bangladesh, UAE, UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, USA, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait. On the first day, the evacuation process will see 10 flights repatriating 2300 Indians.
On Day 2, expectedly 2050 Indians will arrive in various Indian cities such as Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai, Ahemdabad, Bengaluru, and Delhi from nine different countries. Similarly on Day 3, some another 2050 Indian nationals are expected to arrive in Mumbai, Kochi, Lucknow, and Delhi from 13 countries spread across the Middle East, Europe, South East Asia, and the USA.
On day 4, according to the plan of the aviation ministry in collaboration with MEA, it will evacuate 1850 stranded Indian nationals from eight countries including the USA, UK, and UAE.
Flights will be on payment basis
Those who want to come back to India on the special flights arranged by India will have to pay for the cost of the flight operations, as the govt is not going to make payments for the same. The rate tor London-Delhi, London-Mumbai, London-Ahmedabad and London-Bengaluru flights have been fixed at Rs 50,000. While the cost of the Chicago-Delhi-Hyderabad will be around 1 lakh. Tickets from UAE may cost around Rs 15000.
Passengers have to go through the protocols issued by the ministry
Prior to boarding the evacuation flights all Indians are required to fill forms and submit a copy each to the health and immigration counter at arrival. The passengers are required to go through a health check-up to state whether they are suffering from fever, cough, diabetes, or any respiratory disease. The form is similar to one filed by passengers arriving back to the country during the early days of coronavirus outbreak.
The guidelines indicate that the passengers will be screened before they are allowed to board flights for their return, and only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel. During the journey, they will have to follow the protocols issued by the health ministry and the Civil Aviation Ministry.
