Vande Bharat flight to bring 169 people from Dhaka to Kolkata
May 17, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 17 : Under the Vande Bharat Mission, a total of 169 Indians will return by an Air India special flight from Dhaka to Kolkata on Monday, sources told ANI.
West Bengal has finally allowed repatriation of domiciles from abroad, days after the Centre and West Bengal government locked horns on the returns of the state's residents stranded abroad.
The sources said that passengers on the first flight to Kolkata include 73 students, 16 elderly people, 45 stranded tourists, 16 medical emergency cases and one pregnant woman.
"Since a large number of residents from West Bengal are in Bangladesh, special efforts have been undertaken by the High Commission of India in Dhaka to identify those, who with compelling reasons, to return and accorded due priority," sources said.
The returnees will be put under quarantine and thereafter, they will travel to their homes spread across more than 20 districts, right from Paschim Bardhaman in West to North 24 Parganas in East and from Purba Medinipur in South to Jalpaiguri in North, sources said.
The Ministry of External Affairs had on Thursday announced that it is ready to facilitate flights if the West Bengal government announces quarantine facilities for the evacuees.
