Emotional return for 169 from Bangladesh on first Kolkata Vande Bharat flight

KOLKATA: Sixteen Indians in need of medical treatment and a pregnant woman were among the 169 passengers on board the maiden Vande Bharat flight to Kolkata from Bangladesh on Monday. The mission to bring home Indians stranded overseas since March 22 began on May 7 but Kolkata did not figure in the first phase and was initially overlooked in the second phase as well when a war of words between the state government and the Centre finally led to the Dhaka-Kolkata flight being announced late last week.
Air India special flight AI 0231 landed in Kolkata at 12.23pm, ferrying among others, 73 students, 45 tourists with ancestral links in Bangladesh and several professionals employed in the neighbouring country.
Emotional scenes played out at the foyer with passengers and their families reuniting with a plexi-glass shield in between.
State power minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay’s son, Sayandeb, was also among those stuck in Dhaka, where he works with a hotel chain. “Relieved to finally see my son after so many days. He will stay in hotel quarantine for the next two weeks before returning home,” the minister said outside the airport on Monday.
Among the returnees, 105 opted for free quarantine at government facilities while 64 – including the patients and the pregnant woman — preferred paid hotel quarantine.
“I had gone to Bangladesh in the second week of March and was scheduled to return later in the month when flights to India suddenly stopped. I stayed with a relative and kept in touch with the Indian Embassy. I finally got a confirmation on this flight on Saturday evening,” said Nitaipada Mitra, a resident of Howrah.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar promptly tweeted a welcome and thanked the ministry of civil aviation and the state government for working in coordination to facilitate the flight. “Pleased to welcome the first special flight under #VBM to West Bengal (/topic/west-bengal). AI 0231 has landed in Kolkata, carrying 169 Indians from Dhaka. Thank @airindiain @MoCA_GoI and WB Govt for support and coordination,” the message read in English and Bengali.
The passengers said there was a scramble for the best seat while boarding as the flight was full but strict social-distancing norms were followed on arrival. All luggage that arrived by the flight was also sanitized.
Earlier in the day, the AI flight had left Kolkata with 33 Bangladeshis stranded on this side of the border. “My uncle had been undergoing treatment at Tata Medical Centre in New Town since the first week of March. The doctors have advised us to return home but with no flights, we were stuck here. Finally, we can go home now,” Jolly Mitra, a resident of Chattagram who was travelling with her 70-year-old uncle, told TOI before flying out.
Family members of Kolkatans stranded in other parts of the world hoped more Vande Bharat flights will be scheduled to bring back their loved ones. A majority of those stuck overseas are students and tourists. The travel trade fraternity has suggested flights be scheduled from London, Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok where several hundred from the city and the region are stranded.
with inputs from Mayukh Sengupta