AMN
The Phase-Three of Vande Bharat Mission has been initiated from today. Briefing media, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Anurag Srivastava said, it will last till the 2nd of July. Phase-Three will have 432 international flights from 43 countries reaching 17 States and Union Territories. In this phase, there will also be 29 flights from private carriers – 24 Indigo flights, three Go Air flights and two Vistara flights.
The number of flights from the US and Canada have also been increased given the huge demand. There are 53 flights from US and 24 from Canada. There will be 16 flights from Paris and 16 from Frankfurt which are to be used as hubs in Europe. Mr Srivastava said, this phase of Vande Bharat Mission has widened the reach by including more countries and increasing the number of entry points.
The major focus of the Ministry continues to be on the repatriation of Indians stranded overseas through the Vande Bharat Mission. As of today, one lakh 65 thousand 375 Indians have returned. These include over 29 thousand migrant workers, over 12,700 students and 11,241 professionals.
More than 61 thousand Indians have returned through land border immigration checkpoints from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. A total of about four lakh people are registered so far with Indian missions abroad for repatriation to India on compelling grounds.
Apart from Air India flights, repatriation has also been arranged through other streams – through naval vessels, through foreign carriers coming to India to pick up their nationals from other countries, through chartered flights and from land borders.