India to bring back its citizens stranded abroad from May 7

Saurabh Sinha | TNN | Updated: May 4, 2020, 20:07 IST

(Representative image: ANI)

"About 2 lakh register to fly back from Dubai & Abu Dhabi alone as India to start bringing back its citizens"
In the biggest exercise of its kind anywhere globally, India will begin flying back its citizens stranded abroad from Thursday (May 7) in a phased manner on non-schedule flights and naval ships.
In terms of scale, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait had seen 1.7 lakh Indians being flown back from August 13-October 11, 1990, on Air India flights. The corona pandemic has seen about 1.9 lakh Indians register in Dubai and Abu Dhabi alone till May 2 — a number that is expected to rise to 2.2 lakh say sources. And that is just UAE, this time Indians have to be flown from across the world with the largest concentration in the Gulf.
Indians returning home will need to pay to return, something that was done by almost all countries who flew their citizens from India in the past few weeks.
Indian missions abroad are preparing a list of distressed citizens who will be screened before being flown back and on arrival here they will have to spend 14 days in quarantine -- either at home or on payment basis in a designated place.
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Further details are awaited from the aviation and external affairs ministries.
“Government of India will be facilitating the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner. The travel would be arranged by aircraft and naval ships. The standard operating protocol (SOP) has been prepared in this regard. Indian Embassies and High Commissions are preparing a list of distressed Indian citizens,” a government statement said.
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“This facility would be made available on payment-basis. Non-scheduled commercial flights would be arranged for air travel. The travel would begin in a phased manner from May 7. Medical screening of passengers would be done before taking the flight. Only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel. During the journey, all these passengers would have to follow the protocols, such as the health protocols, issued by the ministry of health and the ministry of civil aviation,” it added.
On reaching India, they will have to register on the Arogya Setu app. “Everyone would be medically screened. After scrutiny, they would be quarantined for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on payment-basis, by the concerned state government. COVID test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols,” it added. State governments are being asked to make arrangements, including for testing, quarantine and onward movement of the returning Indians.
Sources say 1.5 lakh Indians have registered to fly back from Dubai. Of these, over 60% have registered to return to Kerala — Kochi, Kozikhode, Trivandrum, Kannur and Trichy. The other places people want to fly back to include the metros, Lucknow and Jaipur.
Over 38,000 Indians have registered from Abu Dhabi. These figures, say sources, are as of May 2 and are expected to rise by another 20% with 10,000 likely to drop out. In all, about 2.2 lakh Indians are expected to fly back from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Given the scale, both private airlines and Air India are likely to be pressed into service.