Special flight carrying 180 migrants from Mumbai lands in Lucknow

Lucknow June 11

A special flight arranged by actor Amitabh Bachchan to ferry 180 migrants from Mumbai landed at the airport here on Thursday morning.

On arrival, the migrants hailing from Unnao, Gonda, Lucknow and other districts of the state thanked the Bollywood star for helping them reach home.

Airport Director, AK Sharma, said 180 passengers have arrived by the special flight.

There were six flights scheduled to take off from Mumbai and on Wednesday four flights with about 700 people took off for Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.                The remaining two flights left for Lucknow and Allahabad on Thursday, sources close to the actor said.

The actor originally wanted to book a train for the migrants but decided to arrange for special flights after logistics for train travel did not work out.

The flights were “organised” on Bachchan’s directive by his close aide Rajesh Yadav, managing director of his home production company AB Corp Ltd.

Yadav, on Bachchan’s behalf, had also recently flagged off 10 buses for 300 migrants to reach their villages in Lucknow, Allahabad, Bhadohi and other places in Uttar Pradesh. This was done in partnership with the dargahs in Mahim and the Haji Ali, a statement said.

The coronavirus-triggered lockdown, which began on March 25, left lakhs of migrants stranded in different parts of the country. With no money and no work, many walked, cycled or hitchhiked their way to villages hundreds, sometimes thousands, of kilometres away. PTI