Indian civil aviation minister Hardeep S Puri today said that the government is preparing to bring back 30,000 stranded Indians from across the globe amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Phase 2 of the Vande Bharat Mission.
"In 1st phase of Vande Bharat we were to bring back 14,800 Indians on 64 flights. 8500 Indians have already returned till this morning. More flights are underway. In the 2nd phase the numbers are being doubled. 30,000 more Indians will return from 31 countries on 149 flights," he tweeted.
Phase 2, which will take place from May 16-22, will see flights being sent to countries such as Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Canada, France, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand & Ukraine.
There will be 149 flights during this period, with the majority fetching Indians from Australia (seven), Russia (six) and Canada (five).
The first phase of this massive repatriation mission, which is still underway, has seen flights to countries like Singapore, the US, the UK as well as Gulf countries.
Passengers flying on these repatriation flights are required to pay for their tickets and will undergo 14-day quarantine in their destination states.
