Phase 2 of the Vande Bharat mission, which began on May 16, will continue till June 13 and will be followed by a third phase as well, said the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava. Till date, 2.59 lakh Indians from 98 countries have registered to fly back home, of which 23,475 have already returned, he added.
India is now operating flights from places like Laos, Ho Chi Minh City and South America to bring back Indians. Flights from the UK, US and Europe will continue. Under the hub-and-spoke model being used, passengers are being brought from distant destinations to a hub airport, from where they are flown back to India. Frankfurt may get designated as a hub next.
Students and blue collar workers form the largest chunk of returnees, with 28 per cent (4,883) of them workers and around 25 per cent (4,196) being students. In the second phase of the mission, the government was also able to use outgoing flights to ferry Indians and non-resident Indians who wanted to head to other countries but were trapped because of the lockdown.
Passengers have been moved on outboard flights to the UK, US and Frankfurt. While the first phase which brought home 14,800 Indians focused mainly on the Persian Gulf, South east Asia, the UK and US, the second phase has reached far and wide, from the Central Asian countries to Latin America.
In the initial stages of the repatriation mission, the outward flights went empty since the lockdown was tight and movement within the country difficult. Also, there was no reaction time for aspirants to register given the speed at which the mission was announced, just a couple of days before the first flight home on May 16.
Now that the Indian air space has also opened up to an extent, and the lockdown has eased, India is also facilitating the return of its nationals on board incoming flights run by other countries to take back their citizens stuck in India. Around 300 Indian pilgrims were brought back from Tehran on Mahan Air. These pilgrims were all from Ladakh. The government is considering the proposal of allowing private airlines to participate in the evacuation mission, too.
Srivastva emphasised that the authorities were following a stringent protocol during repatriation, only ferrying back those who were asymptomatic. He said there were instances when people who had tested positive for the coronavirus were not allowed to board a flight. He did not, however, share numbers.