Next phase to repatriate Indians from May 15 to cover more countries

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 8

The second phase of repatriating stranded Indians from abroad will begin from May 15 and will be expanded to cover countries with a substantial concentration of its citizens such as Russia, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Thailand, said sources, here, on Friday.

The first phase, named ‘Operation Vande Bharat’, was launched on May 7 and will continue for a week to bring back around 15,000 passengers from 12 countries.

About two-thirds of them are students, migrant workers and short-term visa holders.

Besides the air bridge, an Indian Navy vessel has turned around from the Maldives carrying 700 Indians while another is due to reach Male soon.

Also read Navy commences evacuation from Maldives today

However, that still leaves the Government of India with the task of bringing back over four times the number who will return in the first phase of the repatriation.

Sources said as many as 67,833 people have registered to return to India, after having agreed with the terms and conditions of paying for their own fare and the 14-day quarantine on landing.

Of those who have registered, about 25,000 are from Kerala and 2,500 from Delhi.

The Government of India plans to use smaller airports such as Chandigarh, Amritsar, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Kannur, Mangalore and Bodh Gaya for the special flights so that passengers land as close as possible to their hometowns. Immigration and other facilities will be provided at these airports.

“There is a fair amount of flexibility and suppleness in this operation,’’ said the source, while adding that feeder flights would carry some of the passengers even closer to their destinations.

For instance, passengers from Himachal Pradesh disembarking at Delhi will board a special domestic flight to Chandigarh.

The alternate locations will also permit state governments to create ample quarantine facilities.

Delhi and Bihar have emulated Kerala by arranging for comfortable hotel stay for the passengers at reasonable rates.  The Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir has also indicated that it has the facilities for all domiciled citizens who wanted to return.

The Delhi government is understood to have tied up with hotels at Aerocity for quarantining the passengers while the Bihar government indicated that Bodh Gaya would be an ideal quarantine destination because its huge tourist infrastructure is currently vacant.

The sources defended charging passengers for air fare on grounds that the rates were meant to ensure that the operation was self-sustaining.

They pointed out that this airlift was taking place at the request of passengers who were mostly students or working abroad, and hence had the capacity to pay.

The earlier gratis air lifts from Libya or Kuwait had taken place in an emergency situation in a conflict zone, they reasoned.

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