Repatriation assistance

TDT | Manama

Private organisations in Bahrain chartered 16 Gulf Air flights to three different Indian cities, at the request of many stranded Indian nationals. Nine of the flights departed yesterday while the remaining seven are scheduled to fly today. Of yesterday’s nine flights, three were arranged by Bahrain Keralyeeya Samajam (BKS) and four others by other regional community organisations to the coastal Indian state of Kerala.

The two other flights, under the initiative of the Indian Club Bahrain (ICB), flew to the state capital cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore. The ICB’s flight to Hyderabad carried 282 passengers hailing from the Indian state of Telangana in a jumbo jet. It was the first time that a jumbo jet was used for a repatriation mission from Bahrain.

The flight departed the Kingdom at 5.59pm, in association with the Telangana Cultural Association and Telangana Jagruthi Bahrain. Despite a delay in landing permission approvals, for this jumbo jet flight to Hyderabad, Gulf Air officials extended the scheduled time by an hour. The Indian Club officials extended their heartfelt thanks to them for their consideration and support for the stranded passengers.

All of the 16 charter flights have been approved by the Indian Embassy. Except for a few cases for whom ticket charges were waived on humanitarian grounds, all passengers were expected to pay for their own flight tickets. The Indian government yesterday rejected the Kerala state government’s demand that all incoming passengers from abroad must provide COVID-19 negative certificates on arrival.

As per the government’s revised procedures for the operation of chartered flights to repatriate stranded Indians, the organisations must receive clearance from the state governments of each flight’s destination as well as the Embassy’s.