Govt to bring back Indians from abroad but charge them for airfare, stay in quarantine

The Government will restart facilitating repatriation of citizens stranded abroad from Wednesday, but the returnees would have to pay, not only for travelling on special aircraft, but also for accommodation in the quarantine facilities, where they would have to mandatorily stay for at least 14 days after arriving in the country.

The decision to charge the returnees for travelling on special aircraft from abroad as well as for staying in quarantine facilities arranged by the State Governments were taken amid a raging political debate over reports that the jobless migrant workers travelling within the country onboard special trains arranged by the Indian Railways were being made to pay fares.

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The returnees will also have to register themselves on Arogya Setu app of the Government after their arrival in the country, the union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

A large number of Indians got stranded in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and several other countries around the world due to the ban imposed on arrival of international passenger aircraft in order to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The Government on Monday said that it would start facilitating return of the Indians, who would want to come back to the country from abroad for compelling reasons. The MHA issued a press-release in New Delhi stating that a Standard Operating Procedure for facilitating the return of the citizens from abroad in a phased manner had been prepared.

India’s diplomatic and consular missions abroad are preparing a list of distressed citizens stranded abroad for facilitating their return to the country. “This facility would be made available on payment-basis. Non-scheduled commercial flights would be arranged for air travel. The travel would begin in a phased manner from May 7,” the MHA stated. The Indian Navy will also deploy ships to bring home the stranded citizens from foreign nations.

The missions will arrange medical screening of the returnees and only the ones having no symptoms of the Covid-19 infection will be allowed to board the aircraft and the ships. “During the journey, all the passengers would have to follow the protocols, such as the Health Protocols, issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.”

The Government had earlier sent Air India aircraft to evacuate Indians from Wuhan in China – the “ground zero” of the CIOVID-19 pandemic. It had also airlifted citizens from Italy, Iran and Afghanistan, apart from facilitating the return of Indians stranded in Malaysia and a few other countries.

It, however, has not carried out any evacuation mission during the past few weeks.

The Government had sent medical teams to Italy and Iran to collect swab samples of the prospective returnees. The samples had been brought to and tested in the labs in India and only the ones, who had been confirmed to be COVID-19 negative, had been allowed to board the special aircraft.

“Everyone would be medically screened (after arrival in India). After scrutiny, they would be quarantined for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on payment-basis, by the concerned State Government,” the MHA said, adding that the returnees would be tested for COVID-19 infection after 14 days and “further action would be taken according to health protocols”.

The High Commission of India stated that a ship would evacuate 200 Indian citizens, who were stranded in Maldives due to the restrictions imposed on international travels in both the nations to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.