Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times) The government is set to operate as many as 64 flights to bring back over 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad in a phased manner over a tentative span of seven days, reports Hindu Businessline.
It is expected that the flights, scheduled to operate from 7 May, will depart empty from India and return to various cities in over ten states and union territories which include Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Delhi. To ensure the safety of the people on board and to contain the possible spread of COVID-19, the passengers will be subjected to medical screening before they will be allowed to board the flights.
On the first day of the evacuation, about 2,300 stranded Indians are likely to return home, following which between1,800-2,500 Indians are expected to be brought back to India each day. The Government is also likely to deploy Indian Navy ships for the purpose of evacuation.
Among the routes which are being explored for the purpose are Manila-Chennai, Chicago-Delhi-Hyderabad, New York-Delhi-Hyderabad, Kuwait-Kozhikode and Sanfrancisco-Delhi-Bengaluru. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if Air India will alone be deployed to carry out the evacuations.
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