‘Over 2.50 lakh Indians evacuated from abroad under Vande Bharat Mission’

As many as 2,50,087 Indian nationals stranded abroad have been repatriated since the beginning of Vande Bharat Mission last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

Twenty-one percent of the returnees are migrant workers, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in an online briefing.

“As of today, under the Vande Bharat Mission, 2,50,087 Indians have returned. 21 percent of these returnees are migrant workers. More than 75,000 Indians have returned from land border immigration checkpoints from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh,” Srivastava said.

He added that over 4,50,000 Indians have registered their request with the Indian missions in different countries for repatriation to India on compelling grounds.

Vande Bharat Mission, which started from May 7 to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic, is in its third phase. The recent phase commenced on June 11. Under the third phase, India would have 550 flights, including 191 feeder flights.

“Phase three of Vande Bharat Mission started on June 11. The updated flight schedule is available on our website. In this phase, we would have 550 flights including 191 feeder flights. We would be covering 41 countries and operating from 55 international airports and 27 domestic ones,” Srivastava said.

Source: ANI