The UK and US are set to join the list of countries that are evacuating their stranded civilians from India, with the Boris Johnson government on Sunday announcing the first wave of seven charter flights to some 20,000 Britons in various states.
The UK government has said it will provide £ 75 million for various charter flights, where commercial routes do not exist, to bring home thousands of Britons stranded in various countries. Flights from India will depart from Goa on 8, 10 and 12 April, from Mumbai on 9 and 11 April and from New Delhi on 9 and 11 April.
Flights include £ 681 each from Goa, £ 600 from Mumbai and £ 581 from Delhi, and infants under two will travel free.
Britain’s acting High Commissioner to India, Jane Thompson, said: “We know that there has been a concern for British citizens in India for the last few weeks. I hope that this announcement will bring relief, especially to those who are in greatest need.
“Due to the large number of British passengers involved, the scale of this operation is huge. The UK government works hard with its Indian counterparts in New Delhi and London to ensure safe travel for as many people as possible. ”
Officials said charter flights are for British travelers who usually stay in the UK and their direct dependents. Many seats will be reserved for those considered weak. On Saturday, 113 of the weakest British nationals left Goa on an Irish flight.
An estimated 35,000 British citizens are currently in India, but only 20,000 have expressed a desire to return.
The US, which flew some 200 civilians from India on 31 March, is set to operate frequent flights from Delhi and Mumbai this week. People familiar with the development said several thousand Americans, most of whom were stranded tourists and travelers, would be evacuated from these flights.
The US embassy announced on Sunday will have flights from New Delhi to San Francisco (April 6, 7 and 8) and Mumbai to Atlanta (April 7 and 10).
He said, “We don’t know how long the US government will return flights to the United States after this week.” We urge US citizens to return to the United States to take advantage of the current opportunities, ”the embassy said in an alert posted on its website.
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The embassy said it would facilitate transportation from some cities in northern and eastern India to Delhi, including flights from Dehradun, Amritsar and Chandigarh, and bus services from Ludhiana and Dharamshala. It will also arrange flights from Chennai and Hyderabad to Mumbai.
A total of 22 countries evacuated about 14,000 people from India by the end of last week, the aforementioned people said on condition of anonymity.
Germany has flown some 3,000 civilians from various Indian cities in about 10 flights, Japan has about 2,300 in 10 flights, Malaysia has flown 2,100 civilians in 13 flights, 1,600 civilians in eight flights and about 1,100 citizens of Russia in four flights.
France, which has so far evacuated 400 civilians in one flight, has plans to evacuate about 1,600 more stranded tourists and travelers.
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Special arrangements have been made by countries across the country to arrange “movement permits” in view of the current domestic travel restrictions. These permits call for Indian authorities to allow foreign nationals to pass without delay or detention.
The people quoted above said that there are no plans to arrange flights to bring back the currently stranded Indians abroad. The government recently advised stranded Indians to “stay put” and Indian missions have been tasked to help them.
