38,000 stranded Indians to be repatriated in 3rd phase of Vande Bharat Mission

A complete of 107,123 Indians stranded internationally have been introduced again to the nation to this point within the first two phases of Vande Bharat Mission, India’s largest repatriation operation.

State-run Air India has to this point operated 103 flights within the second section of Vande Bharat Mission, which started on May 17 and can proceed until June 13, exterior affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava mentioned on Thursday.

“Phase II of Vande Bharat has progressed well…The Indian Navy has also made sorties to bring back returnees from Sri Lanka and the Maldives,” he mentioned.

Around 38,000 Indians are anticipated to be repatriated through the third section of Vande Bharat Mission on 337 worldwide flights from 31 international locations, together with 54 from the US, 24 from Canada, and 11 flights from Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Seychelles and Mauritius.

The third section will cowl extra sectors and create extra hubs in distant areas.

Since the operation began on May 7, a complete of 454 flights, together with these by overseas carriers, have introduced again the stranded Indians. The 107,123 Indians repatriated to this point included 17,485 migrant employees, 11,511 college students and eight,633 professionals.

More than 32,000 Indians have returned via land border immigration checkpoints from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

A complete of 348,565 Indians have to this point registered with missions overseas to be repatriated on compelling grounds, Srivastava mentioned.

After the Union residence ministry issued contemporary pointers on May 24, the method of non-scheduled industrial flights has been streamlined and this resulted in additional facilitation of Indians returning by chartered flights and air ambulances.

“There is a significant increase in the number of returnees via land borders too with the finalisation of guidelines in this regard,” he mentioned.