A total 67,833 Indian nationals have so far registered for repatriation under India’s mega “Vande Bharat Mission” launched to get back home Indians stranded in foreign lands. Of those who have registered to come back to India, 34 percent are students and 30 percent are migrant workers.
Over 9,200 requests have come from Indian nationals who are short-term visa holders faced with expiry of visas. Over 5,500 people facing medical emergency or seeking treatment for terminal illness, over 4,100 tourists stranded abroad, over 3,000 pregnant women and the elderly and over 1,100 people who are required to required to return due to death of a family member have also registered seeking repatriation.
The maximum repatriation requests—as many as 25,246– have come from Indians who want to get back to their homes in Kerala.
A total 6,617 requests have come from Indians domiciled in Tamil Nadu, 4,341 from those from Maharashtra, 3,715 from people from Uttar Pradesh, 3,320 from those from Rajasthan, 2,796 from those from Telangana, 2,786 from those from Karnataka, 2,445 from people from Andhra Pradesh, 2,330 from those from Gujarat and 2,232 from people domiciled in Delhi.
Between May 7 and May 15, 64 flights operated by national carrier Air India will bring back around 15,000 Indian from 12 countries. These flights will land at 14 airports across the country.
In the first week of Vande Bharat Mission, 27 flights will take off from the Gulf region—11 from UAE (including the 2 that have already landed), five each from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and two each from Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
From the neighbourhood, seven flights will take off during the first week of Vande Bharat Mission from Bangladesh (including the one that has already landed) carrying passengers bound for Srinagar, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.
During the same period, 14 flights will take off from South-East Asia—five each from Singapore (including the one that has already landed) and the Philippines and four from Malaysia.
Similarly, seven flights will take off from four airports in US – New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and San Francisco. Another seven flights will take off from London in the UK.
These flights are expected to land at 14 airports across India during the first week of Vande Bharat Mission. These airports are Delhi (10 flights), Hyderabad (9), Kochi (9), Kozhikode (4), Trivandrum (1), Kannur (1), Chennai (9), Trichy (1), Ahmadabad (5), Mumbai (4), Srinagar (3). Bengaluru (4), Lucknow (1) and Amritsar (1).
Four flights landed in India on May 7–Air India flight IX-452 from Abu Dhabi to Kochi with 181 passengers and Air India flight IX-344 from Dubai to Kozhikode with 182 passengers. All passengers from UAE underwent rapid anti-body tests before departure. On May 8– AI 381 with 234 passengers from Singapore to Delhi and AI 1242 with 168 passengers from Dhaka to Srinagar also arrived.
Meanwhile, Indian Navy’s INS Jalashwa set sail on May 8 from Male to Kochi with approximately 700 returnees on board. The ship is expected to arrive in Kochi on May 10 forenoon, depending upon sea conditions. INS Magar, is expected to set sail from Male with 200 returnees on May 10 to reach Kochi on May 12. Depending upon requirements, both ships will make another journey from Male to Tuticorin subsequently.