TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Trichy:05.08.2020
Despite hundreds of Tamils still stranded in Kuwait following the Covid-19 lockdown, not a single service has been operated so far by Air India Express under Vande Bharat mission to Trichy. Though rescue flights were expected in the fifth phase of the mission which began on August 2, it came as a dampener when Trichy didn’t figure in it.
In all, 49 services were operated from other countries to Trichy under Vande Bharat mission. Sources said about 20,000 Indians, mostly Tamils, stuck in Kuwait have been waiting for four months to return. The Kuwait government had arranged eight services to Trichy, bringing 909 people via Kuwait Airlines. Jazeera Air and Indi-Go Air brought back 1,810 passengers in 11 services. “However, the ticket fare and other expenses like Covid-19 test in Trichy, isolation at private hotels and food make it charter flights unaffordable. In the case of Vande Bharat except for flight fare, the others are taken care of,” Nowshath Ali, president of Association of Overseas Tamils in Kuwait, said.
A total of 2,719 Tamils had so far been brought to Trichy on 19 foreign charter flights including Kuwait Airways. Yet, hundreds still await Vande Bharat rescue flights.
Some services were operated to Chennai, said AB Khaleel Ahmed Baaqavee, general secretary of Kuwait Tamil Islamic Committee (K-Tic). “We filed a petition before Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Union government to operate Vande Bharat rescue flights to Trichy. We hope we will get a favourable order from the court,” he told TOI.
A total of 49 services were operated to Trichy from other countries as part of Vande Bharat mission. But not one flight was scheduled from Kuwait to Trichy
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