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Santhosh Chandran
Doha
The number of Indian expatriates who have registered to leave Qatar for home amid the COVID-19 pandemic has hit 45,000 as the Embassy of India in Doha prepares to begin the second phase of a repatriation exercise on May 18.
The “Vande Bharat” mission helped 359 Indians in Qatar get home in the first phase that began on May 9.
Six flights will take Indians home in the second phase, with the first flight leaving for Kozhikode May 18, the Embassy of India said a tweet on Wednesday. The IX 0374 flight will leave Doha at 3:15 pm (local time).
Two flights are scheduled to fly out on May 20 — AI 1924 to Vishakapatnam at 12 noon and IX 0244 to Hyderabad at 1 pm.
The remaining three flights will leave for Kochi (IX 0476) on May 21 (at 2:05 pm), Bengaluru (IX0822) on May 22 (at 1:30 pm) and Gaya (AI 0972) on May 24 (at 6 pm).
The first phase of the repatriation saw two flights leaving Doha with hundreds of Indians. While 178 Indians left for Kochi on Saturday (May 9) onboard the first repatriation flight from Qatar, the second one left for Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (May 12) with 181 onboard.
While the passengers choosing to use the repatriation service have to pay for their tickets, payment alone will not guarantee a seat on a repatriation flight. The embassy will shortlist the “most deserving” people, with priority being given to pregnant women, people with critical medical conditions, workers who have lost jobs and are in distress and senior citizens among others.
To streamline the selection process, the embassy has formed eight committees comprising Indian community members. The selected Indian expatriates will be contacted by the embassy via email or telephone.
KM Varghese, who heading such a committee to repatriate Kerala expatriates said, “We have submitted a list of 700 passengers to embassy for the next phase of repatriation. We selected the passengers from the list of 28000 Kerala expatriate provided by the embassy.”
Doha
The number of Indian expatriates who have registered to leave Qatar for home amid the COVID-19 pandemic has hit 45,000 as the Embassy of India in Doha prepares to begin the second phase of a repatriation exercise on May 18.
The “Vande Bharat” mission helped 359 Indians in Qatar get home in the first phase that began on May 9.
Six flights will take Indians home in the second phase, with the first flight leaving for Kozhikode May 18, the Embassy of India said a tweet on Wednesday. The IX 0374 flight will leave Doha at 3:15 pm (local time).
Two flights are scheduled to fly out on May 20 — AI 1924 to Vishakapatnam at 12 noon and IX 0244 to Hyderabad at 1 pm.
The remaining three flights will leave for Kochi (IX 0476) on May 21 (at 2:05 pm), Bengaluru (IX0822) on May 22 (at 1:30 pm) and Gaya (AI 0972) on May 24 (at 6 pm).
The first phase of the repatriation saw two flights leaving Doha with hundreds of Indians. While 178 Indians left for Kochi on Saturday (May 9) onboard the first repatriation flight from Qatar, the second one left for Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (May 12) with 181 onboard.
While the passengers choosing to use the repatriation service have to pay for their tickets, payment alone will not guarantee a seat on a repatriation flight. The embassy will shortlist the “most deserving” people, with priority being given to pregnant women, people with critical medical conditions, workers who have lost jobs and are in distress and senior citizens among others.
To streamline the selection process, the embassy has formed eight committees comprising Indian community members. The selected Indian expatriates will be contacted by the embassy via email or telephone.
KM Varghese, who heading such a committee to repatriate Kerala expatriates said, “We have submitted a list of 700 passengers to embassy for the next phase of repatriation. We selected the passengers from the list of 28000 Kerala expatriate provided by the embassy.”
P.S. An earlier version of the report said the second phase would begin on May 20. It has been updated to reflect changes made in the schedule by the Embassy of India.
