Law grads charter Mumbai-Ranchi flight for 180 migrants

MUMABI: Alumni of the National Law School, Bangalore, raised enough funds in less than half a day to lease an A320 aircraft and fly 180 migrant labourers from Mumbai to Ranchi. This will be the first time ever in the history of Indian aviation that a group of private individuals has planned to evacuate stranded migrants by a flight.
The relief flight, to be flown by Air Asia, is scheduled to depart at 6am on Thursday, “We have a commitment from the Jharkhand government they will take care of the migrants once they reach Ranchi. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we shall be coordinating with the Maharashtra government to get the migrants on board the flight,” said a member of the alumni requesting anonymity. Funds have been put together by former students across batches. Migrant labourers were identified through various NGO networks.
Shyel Trehaan from the batch of 2000 at the law school said her batchmates were discussing a way to help migrants.
They first thought of chartering a bus, but soon found the per person cost was just marginally lower than that for a flight, as more people can be fitted.
“The whole idea and its execution is a joint effort, helped by Tata group, the airline and Priya Sharma, research scholar, social sciences, IIT-Bombay,” said Trehaan. They have raised Rs 11 lakh via crowd-funding so far.
The alumni have been doing various relief work in different states during the lockdown. “The cost of a flight ticket is the same as what the labourers are paying to go back by bus. So we decided to send them back by flight,” said the member. Around 45 migrant labourers had been booked on a Wednesday flight from Mumbai to Delhi and then to Ranchi, which got cancelled. “We thought why leave others behind and decided to charter a flight directly to Ranchi. The cost is being borne entirely by us, including the charter charges,” said the member.