AMN/ WEB DESK
India operated its fifth Vande Bharat flight to China yesterday. Late last night, Air India flew in 212 Indians, three OCI card holders, Chinese nationals and few foreign nationals to Ningbo in China from Delhi.
This enabled many stuck Indians to unite with their family members and enabled them to join back work in China. Indian Consulate in Shanghai tweeted that the flight carried back 54 Indians who wanted to return back to motherland. Travellers to both sides will have to follow extant quarantine requirements in respective countries.
The first Vande Bharat flight to China was operated on 20th of June. Last month, China allowed entry of certain categories of foreigners which enabled Indian employees of multinational companies to return to China. However, China has not yet cleared the decks for entry of foreign students to China. Over 23,000 Indian students are waiting for their return to China.
The Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said, as on 10th of September, 13.74 lakh Indians from across the globe have been repatriated through different modes of the Vande Bharat Mission including Air India, private and foreign carriers, chartered flights, naval ships and land border crossings. The Ministry continues to monitor the demand for repatriation through Indian Missions/Posts abroad, as per the statement. Vande Bharat Mission Phase-6 became operational with effect from 1st of September. In all, 1,007 international flights have been scheduled to operate during this month and over two lakh people are expected to be repatriated.