Oz flight, border woes keep families apart

MELBOURNE: Amita Bajwa last saw her three kids, including her six-year-old son, six months ago. The Melbourne resident had travelled to Patiala (Punjab) in early February after her mother’s demise. Since then, it’s been a battle to get home. “My father is alone and chronically ill. I decided to take him back to Australia with me but with the Covid-19 outbreak countries went into a complete lockdown. Now, after months of wait, we managed to book a Vande Bharat flight to Melbourne this month, but it got cancelled,” she told TOI.
As a second wave of coronavirus gripped Australia, the country announced stricter border controls on July 10. While Melbourne airport shut down completely, all states capped the number of international arrivals per week. Consequently, Air India cancelled four out of six flights to Australia that were scheduled between July 15 and July 19 as part of Vande Bharat phase 4.
“I had pinned my hopes on India starting some sort of air bubble with Australia, but that hasn’t happened. I have also been on unpaid leave from work for months,” said Bajwa, a healthcare worker.
Komal Kathuria, who is six months pregnant, has been stranded since she travelled to Kurukshetra from Brisbane in February to renew her tourist visa. “My husband is an Australian resident and I was in the country on a tourist visa since I’m waiting for my partner visa. While authorities have finally granted me approval to join my husband, I can’t find a flight,” she said.
At least 8,000 residents of Australia — majority of them NRIs or students in Australian varsities — are currently stranded in India and have registered with Australian High Commission (AHC) in India to return, said a source at AHC.