PMO supervises Vande Bharat Mission to bring back Indians stranded abroad

Prime Minister's Office chalked out the 'Vande Bharat Mission' to bring home Indians stuck abroad amid the coronavirus lockdown. The mission was set rolling on Thursday as two special aircraft brought back Indians from United Arab Emirates on the first day.

Stranded Indians faced issues abroad

Indians stuck abroad had been urging officials of the Indian embassies, high commissions, and even their native states to make arrangements for their evacuation, ever since the lockdown was imposed in different countries. These Indians were facing issues like expiring visas, completion of work for which they had flown abroad, closure of hostels in which Indian students were studying, or even health and family problems.

'Vande Bharat Mission' preparation begins

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, had a meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who brought the matter to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, once the Indian missions abroad sounded. A senior officer in the PMO said the Prime Minister gave the green light around a week ago to devise a strategy to bring back Indians stuck abroad.

Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Shringla then sought all the necessary details from various embassies and missions on Indians who wished to come back due to urgent matters.

Following the directive, a meeting took place between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Jaishankar, and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. This was followed by a meeting of PM's Principal Secretary and other senior PMO officers, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the Cabinet Secretary and Secretaries of the Ministries concerned.

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Jaishankar directs Indian missions abroad to register Indians

According to sources MEA Jaishankar directed the Indian missions abroad to register Indians who wished to return for urgent matters and those who were capable of paying their travel expenses. However, it was also decided that in case someone was not able to pay the airfare, arrangements would be made for the same.

Directives were also sent out that plans for evacuation would be made on priority for those areas where the number of stuck Indians was more. The sources said that the External Affairs Minister and the Foreign Secretary then contacted their respective counterparts in the countries from where the Indians were to be evacuated and revealed the evacuation plan, seeking their cooperation for its smooth operation.

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Health Ministry comes up with protocols

The Health Ministry came up with a screening protocol for the evacuees, wherein the crew of the aircraft were also asked to undergo screening for coronavirus to be permitted to fly. The passengers were to be screened, apart from giving the undertaking to agree for 14-day quarantine once they returned to India and downloading of Aarogya Setu app.

Evacuation through sea

On April 30, a meeting was held at the residence of Rajnath Singh, which was also attended by NSA Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and the chiefs of the three armed forces. A strategy was devised to use naval vessels for the evacuations, with a focus on safety aspects in view of the coronavirus outbreaks on a US naval ship. A standard operating procedure for both naval crew and the passengers was chalked out. A plan was devised on the probable use of 8 to 10 ships, though it was decided to initially send three vessels.

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Air evacuation plan executed

On the other hand, Jaishankar provided Puri with details of Indians to be evacuated by air. The Civil Aviation Minister then made arrangements of passenger planes for evacuation. Fares were fixed at a moderate level, with a flat rate applicable to passengers holed up in different countries. The aircraft crew was trained in health protocols and directed to ensure seating of passengers as per the norms of social distancing etc. It was decided to send wide-bodied aircraft and seat a lesser number of passengers to ensure adequate distancing among the evacuees on aircraft.

The Home Ministry directed different state governments to make arrangements in government facilities or even hotels to quarantine passengers once they landed at different airports. The expenses for the quarantine was to be borne either by the evacuees or the State concerned. The States were also asked to make arrangements for ferrying evacuees from the airports to the quarantine centres.

Now that the first phase of the ''Vande Bharat Mission'' is on, its next phase will depend on the success of the present efforts and the situation of coronavirus infections in the country in the coming days.

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(With inputs from agency)