Our Correspondent
Mumbai, June 12:
Over 8000 people from nearly 32 counties have landed in Mumbai as part of the “Vande Bharat Mission (VBM)” being implemented jointly by the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, External Affairs Ministry and Union Home ministry to bring back expatriates to India.
While the passengers from other states and from Mumbai, have been quarantined in designated hotels in Mumbai, those from other parts of Maharashtra are being quarantined at respective district headquarters by the district authorities.
In all 8465 expats have landed in Mumbai. They include 3059 from different states across the country, 2488 from Mumbai and 2918 from other parts of Maharashtra. Those from outside Maharashtra will be allowed to proceed to their states after e pass arrangement is made.
The expats have come from UK, Singapore, Philippines, USA, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Kuwait, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Oman, South Africa, Indonesia, Netherland, Japan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Tanzania, Spain, Ireland, Qatar, Hongkong, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Brazil, Thailand, Kenya, Miami, Vietnam, Italy, Sweden and Rome.
Under VBM III regulations, the passengers cannot take connecting flight to their own states on arrival. They can only proceed after completing the mandatory quarantine period at the airport of arrival. They, however, can board a connecting flight on arrival if it is a feeder flight.
The third phase of VBM, India’s mammoth repatriation exercise, has begun amid confusion over different quarantine rules for the incoming international passengers in various states. While the passengers remained perplexed regarding booking of connecting flights and quarantine rules, the Consulate General of India, New York, has stated that the people intending to book flights to India from now onwards must register themselves with the Consulate.
Under no circumstances, international passengers will be allowed to mix with domestic passengers before completing mandatory quarantine. The passengers will have to provide an undertaking at the time of booking and also at the airport prior to boarding.
With a view to ramp up the repatriation exercise to bring back stranded Indians, Phase III of the VBM will see 80 flights being sent to Europe — two daily flights to London and two to other European destinations — till 30 June. In view of the huge number of requests from stranded Indians in the Gulf, the number of flights have been increased up to 165 as against 107 flights originally planned.
Till now over 70,000 citizens have returned and nearly 17,000 flew out of India on VBM flights. In addition nearly 1,10,000 people flew out and 55,000 citizens returned on more than 730 charters on foreign and Indian carriers permitted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
