NEW DELHI: Over 1.88 lakh stranded Indians have registered at various missions across the globe to be repatriated as a part of the second leg of the Vande Bharat Mission, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
“We are launching the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission from May 16 to 22. In this phase. We will bring back Indians from 31 countries in 149 flights. As of now a total of 1,88,646 Indian nationals have registered on the portal run by the ministry,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. “An additional 18 countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Japan, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Georgia, Tajikistan and Armenia have been included. We are broadening the ambit every week in a phased manner keeping with our quarantine capacity, health protocols, etc.”
Air India, meanwhile, opened bookings on Thursday evening on select repatriation flights to be operated from India to the US, the UK, Australia, Frankfurt, Paris and Singapore under phase two of Vande Bharat Mission. Moreover, Air India will also operate special domestic ferry flights for only those passengers who have been repatriated.