Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday informed that 30,000 Indians will return from 31 countries on 149 flights between May 16 and 22, the duration for the phase 2 of the Vande Bharat Mission.
During the first phase of the Vande Bharat Mission, a total of 64 flights between May 7 and May 14 to bring 14,800 Indians from 12 countries would be brought on a payment basis by Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express
Domestic flights would be operated by Air India and Air India Express to forward international flights so that passengers can reach their destinations within the country amid the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.
“Phase II of Vande Bharat from 16-22 May will also include flights from Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Canada, France, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand and Ukraine,” Puri tweeted.
It is known to everyone that 8,500 Indians have already returned till Wednesday morning. The minister informed that more flights are underway as part of phase I of the Vande Bharat Mission.
“In the phase 1 of Vande Bharat we were to bring back 14,800 Indians on 64 flights…In phase 2 numbers doubled. Around 30,000 more Indians will return from 31 countries on 149 flights,” he stated.
Out of the 149 repatriation flights under phase II, 31 would come to Kerala, 22 to Delhi, 17 to Karnataka, 16 to Telangana, 14 to Gujarat, 12 to Rajasthan, nine to Andhra Pradesh and seven to Punjab.
During Vande Bharat Mission phase 2, six flights each would be for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, three for Odisha, two for Chandigarh, one each for Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Apart from the aerial evacuation, the Indian Navy has deployed two of its ships to repatriate Indians from abroad. Since March 7, these two ships have repatriated approximately 1,000 Indians from the Maldives
India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The virus infected more than 74,200 people and killed around 2,400 people in the country till now.
