769 foreign nationals stranded in India sought help: Govt

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 6

The government on Monday said it has received requests from 769 foreign tourists stranded in different parts of India on account of lockdown seeking help to evacuate them from the place of their stay.

It said in the past five days since the launch of a portal www.strandedinindia.com, these people sought assistance in facilitating them to be evacuated.

In an official statement, the government said, “Every State Government and Union Territory (UT) Administration has identified a nodal officer for assisting such foreign tourists.” It went on to add that five Regional Offices of the Ministry of Tourism are constantly coordinating with the Nodal Officers regarding the “support requests” logged on the portal, for facilitating ground support to the foreigners, if so required.

“The Tourism Ministry Regional Offices are also coordinating with the Bureau of Immigration and FRROs regarding visa issues being faced by stranded foreigners. Requests for movement within the country/state and for transfer to home country of such tourists are also being coordinated with the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and with the respective Embassy/ High Commission/Consulate,” the statement read.

Sharing a case study of a lady, who is an American citizen, and was stranded in Supaul district of Bihar amidst the lockdown, while her son was undergoing a surgery in Delhi, the government in the statement said, “The portal facilitated the required inter-ministerial, inter-departmental and State-Centre coordination and secured her a special transit-permit to travel to Delhi. She has safely reached her destination and expressed her gratitude for the efforts put in by all the concerned agencies.”

Two Costa Rican citizens, who had come to Chennai for a surgery (medical tourism), were stranded at Chennai after the surgery. Close coordination with the State Government, the Costa Rican Embassy and the hotel in which the tourists were staying helped in soothing the frayed and panicked nerves of the tourists. They are now safe and well.

“An Australian tourist with his family was stranded in Ahmedabad. The tourist has epilepsy and ran out of medication prescribed by Australian doctors due to the lockdown. The portal led to the tourist being reached through the office of the District Collector. He was provided with sufficient medication and was also offered food and local transportation. Now, they are comfortable and safe,” it said.