The Union Home Ministry has issued SOPs for movement of Indian nationals stranded outside the country. The ministry has also also issued SOPs for persons stranded in India who are desirous to travel abroad for urgent reasons.
New Delhi, May 7:
The Ministry of Home Affairs has released the set of guidelines to be followed by Indians stranded abroad for repatriation.
Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the Covid-19-induced lockdown, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.
Now, the MHA has released the standard operating procedure for Indian nationals stuck in foreign countries. The guidelines also include SOPs for persons stranded in India who are desirous to travel abroad for urgent reasons.
Only people showing no symptoms of Covid-19 will be allowed to travel. The MHA also said that priority will be given for travel from abroad to compelling cases in distress, including migrant workers who have been laid off as well as people faced with the expiry of short term visas, those with a medical emergency, pregnant women and the elderly. Those required to return to India due to death of family member, and students will also be given priority.
MHA issues SOPs for movement of Indian Nationals stranded outside the country, as well as, for those persons stranded in India who are desirous to travel abroad for urgent reasons.#COVIDー19 #lockdown #Corona Update pic.twitter.com/CTg6ZNSHIO
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) May 5, 2020
The government has prepared a Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) and Indian Embassies and High Commissions are preparing a list of distressed Indian citizens in foreign countries.
The stranded citizens will be brought home on non-commercial flights or naval ships and travellers will have to bear the cost of travel as specified by Civil Aviation ministry earlier today.
Once travel arrangements have been made and all requisite information is collected, the MEA will be contacting nodal officers appointed by it for each Indian state to bring back citizens. MEA will also display the schedule and passenger details of all incoming flights/ships online two days in advance.
The ministry has also said that passengers will have to give an undertaking that they are taking the journey on their personal risk and will go into institutional quarantine upon arrival.
Medical screening of passengers would be done before taking the flight and only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel, it added. After arrival in India, their thermal screening will be conducted and those found to be symptomatic will be taken for treatment while other passengers will be sent to institutional quarantine which will be arranged by respective state governments.
During the journey, all passengers would have to follow social distancing and hygiene protocols issued by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
“On reaching the destination, everyone would have to register on the Arogya Setu app. Everyone would be medically screened. 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 Home Ministry said.
Their Covid test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols, it said.
Meanwhile, those passengers who want to travel abroad but are stuck in India will also be allowed to board the flights/ships that are going to bring back Indian citizens. These passengers will also have to pay for the trip.
India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. All commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this period.
The first and second phase of lockdown in India was from March 25 to April 14 and April 15 to May 3, respectively. The third phase began from May 4 and would end on May 17.
The Indian government announced plans to facilitate the return of Indians stranded abroad on “compelling grounds” in a phased manner on Monday. The first flight will travel on May 7 and bring back Kerala residents from UAE.
Courtesy: India Today
