Vande Bharat Mission: Over 5L Indians returned home under biggest repatriation exercise

Over five lakh citizens have so far returned to India from 137 countries under the Central government’s biggest evacuation exercise "Vande Bharat Mission" that was launched on May 7 in the wake COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.

"The VBM operations commenced on May 7, 2020 and in less than two months 5,03,990 stranded Indians from 137 countries, including from remote areas, have returned to their homes. Considering that the initial target to bring stranded Indians with compelling reasons was only 2 lakh, this is a significant achievement," MEA said in a release.

As per the release, Kerala welcomed the largest number of Indians (94,085), followed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh.

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'A coordinated effort'

The largest number of stranded Indians who returned under Vande Bharat Mission are from UAE (57,305), followed by Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and USA. A total of 91,193 Indians returned from Nepal through land border check posts, the Ministry said. Announcing the record-breaking achievement, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the massive operation was carried out with the coordinated efforts of the Indian Embassies abroad, the Civil Aviation Ministry, the Home Ministry, and the state governments. 

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The Vande Bharat mission undertook 860 Air India flights; 1,256 charter flights and eight naval ships. The number of stranded Indians returned by Air India were 1,64,121; the Indian Navy evacuated 3,987 in 8 ships from Maldives, Iran and Colombo. Chartered flights transported 2,30,832 passengers and foreign carriers evacuated 3,969; and about 60 air ambulances were operated under the mission.  

"Considering that the initial target to bring stranded Indians with compelling reasons was only 2 lakh, this is a significant achievement," the Ministry said. 

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