V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs said the union foreign affairs ministry along with Air India have prepared a plan to bring people from 31 countries in 145 flights in the second phase of Vande Bharath Mission. The first phase of Vande Bharath Mission will complete by 15th of this month and around 14800 Indians will be bought back to India in the first phase.
“1000s of people are ready to come back to India from gulf countries. In case of Kerala, what I propose is at least one flight from each country in the Gulf should reach the airports in Kerala daily. In that case, six flights will arrive at every airport. This will make up to 168 service to Kerala from Gulf. If the flights come daily, the rush will fall. Now people are in a rush to catch the first flight as the number of flight is limited. However the state need to prepare the arrangement of testing and quarantine centers for the incoming passengers and they have to suggest how many service they can accommodate in a week. If state government is ready to receive all of them coming from Gulf countries, we are ready to send as many as flights”, Minister said. He was speaking to an Indian Media in Delhi.
Regarding the priority list of Indian nationals registered with Indian embassies and complaints of undeserving people occupying the seats, minister said the complaints will be probed if evidences are provided.
No flight company has approached the civil aviation promising to repatriate NRIs at low cost than Air India or free of cost, the minister added. Some private companies from Gulf countries had informed the embassies that they are ready to send their workers to India at the company’s own expense. However as the workers are from different sates, we are exploring the possibility, Minister said.
There is no issue in giving permission for chartered flights to land in India. We have already given permission for a chartered flight to land in Bangalore, Minister said.
The Process to repatriate all Amnesty seekers from Kuwait is already going on, Minister said.
