New Delhi: The Indian Government decided to lift the stranded Indians in abroad will start from May 7^th. The Union Government is going to bring nearly 15K Indian nationals from 12 countries with 64 flights.

The ambitious exercise to repatriate lakhs of people from May 7^th to May 13^th, the lifting Indian nationals from abroad is named “Vande Bharat Mission”, said External Minister S. Jay Shanker in a tweet. According to the official sources, apart from the Gulf, non-scheduled commercial air crafts will fly out stranded Indians from US, UK, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and Philippians. The number of Indians lining up to return is likely to far exceed the 1, 90, 000, who initially registered and could be as many as four lakhs, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri.

The Government will cost the flight charges from US Rs. One Lakh and from UK Rs. Fifty thousand respectively, for the special flights being operated by Air India. The fare range starts at Rs. 12, 000 for a Dhaka- Delhi flight and one of the highest demand route Dubai-Cochin will cost Rs. 15, 000 per head. The arrangements are for those unable to return after India banned international flights to isolate the country from transmission of Covid-19 from foreign shores. The Minister of External Affairs has designated senior officials (Joint and Additional Secretaries) to coordinate with each state where Indian nationals will be landing.

Those facing deportation in the Gulf will be on top of the priority list of “Compelling cases”. They will be followed migrant labours, non-permanent Visa holders, pregnant women, the elderly those facing medical emergencies, tourists and students.