Indian citizens stranded in Bangladesh due to the Covid-19 lockdown have started leaving for home, with 168 students leaving in the first phase.
A special flight of Air India, carrying the 168 Indian citizens, left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Friday morning, Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, director of Dhaka airport, told Dhaka Tribune.
Indian High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das was present at the airport to see off the first batch of Indians leaving Bangladesh. Officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) were present at the airport as well.
The first batch of stranded Indian citizens are students at various medical colleges in Dhaka, and were taken to Srinagar.
The stranded Indians will be evacuated in phases.
During the first phase, six more flights of Air India will carry Indian nationals to Srinagar on May 12-13, Delhi on May 9 and 11, Mumbai on May 10, and Chennai on May 14 throughout a week, with each flight carrying approximately 170 passengers, sources at Dhaka airport said.
The Indian High Commission in Dhaka has been in constant touch with the students and resolved various issues such as food, lodging, finance, etc, in close cooperation with the principals of the medical colleges, who have been most generous with their support in this difficult period, UNB reports.
The Government of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has commenced the biggest repatriation exercise ever with "Vande Bharat Mission," to bring back Indians stranded abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This includes many Indian nationals who travelled to different countries before the countries went into lockdown, on various purposes such as employment, studies, internships, tourism, business, etc.
Apart from the above cases, there are Indian nationals who need to visit home due to medical emergencies or death of a family member, according to the Indian high commission in Dhaka.
Bangladesh has so far brought back 2,000 of its citizens from a number of Indian cities who were stranded there due to the countrywide lockdown to curb Covid-19 transmission.