160 NRIs in Hyderabad seek civil aviation ministry permission to hire chartered flight to fly to UAE

HYDERABAD: As many as 160 NRIs who have been stuck in the city due to the Covid-19 lockdown have urged the union civil aviation minister to approve a chartered flight they had applied for to fly to UAE.
“There has been no response to our appeal for the last 10 days,” Ratna Vadapalli who has taken up the issue told TOI. The chartered flight was negotiated for July 2 from Hyderabad but as on July 1, the permission was yet to be given by the civil aviation ministry. The group got UAE immigration approval valid for only 21 days and they can enter before July 4.
The Telangana Friends Association, Abu Dhabi wrote a letter to union minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy about the issue they were facing. Raja Srinivasa Rao pointed out in the letter on June 27 that 140 people had come to Hyderabad from UAE due to various reasons including education, business, health, and visiting their children or parents.
The association said it had applied to the UAE government for permission to return and also got approval letters following which they had discussions with private airlines for a chartered flight on or before July 4 to the UAE.
“Since there is no clear nod from the union aviation ministry our families are suffering a lot emotionally. It is also affecting us financially as those employed in the UAE have got stranded in Hyderabad,” the association said.
The association said since there was no clarity on for how long the current situation will prevail and international flights would be resumed, they should be allowed to fly back to UAE in a chartered flight to join back their duties there. After July 2, the approvals they have got from UAE expire and they would have to face more hassles to get approvals again, it was pointed out.
In all, 160 people intend to fly back to the UAE along with their family members.