Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan on Saturday moved the Supreme Court with a plea to establish a specialised team to identify Indian citizens stranded in the Gulf countries for immediate evacuation in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He stressed at the need to facilitate evacuation of those stuck in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, due to variety of reasons, including flight cancellations.
He sought a direction to the government to lift the ban on international flights or grant permission for special flights for the purpose.
Similar petitions have been filed for evacuation of citizens from the USA, the UK, Iran and Japan.
In his petition, Raghvan said that he had contacted several airlines which have expressed their desire and willingness to ensure the safe return of Indians stranded in GCC nations. He said GCC nations had also assured their complete support for the operation of flights to assist with the repatriation of stranded Indian citizen which proved to be futile as the Indian airspace has been shut.