Flight with 178 aboard to reach Amritsar

Amritsar, May 13

Under the Vande Bharat Mission, five special flights from the Gulf will bring back about 900 stranded Indians home at different airports, including one at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport here.

A flight with 178 distressed Indians of Punjabi origin from Dubai will land here late tonight. Officials say priority has been given to workers in distress, elderly people, urgent medical cases, pregnant women and others stranded in difficult situation. Only those who are found asymptomatic will be allowed to board the flight.

Before permitting them to leave for their houses, they will have to undergo a14-day quarantine period at hotels.

APS Chatha, president of the Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHARA), said despite lockdown the association managed to arrange over 3,000 rooms in the state, including 600 rooms in the city.

On the request of the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board, AHARA has opened these rooms. All rooms will be paid by occupants.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the district administration has written to the Municipal Corporation, police and the Excise Department to ask hoteliers to arrange rooms to quarantine NRIs.

A British Airways flight number BA 9115 with 306 Britons took off from the local airport for Heathrow on Wednesday.