Thursday, May 7, 2020
Private companies seeking India to allow Repatriation of more Indians from Saudi Arabia
Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr Ausaf Sayeed said around 60,000 Indians have requested the Embassy for repatriation from Saudi Arabia. He said that government of India will give clearance to private companies in Saudi Arabia who wish to send Indian citizens to home at their own expenses.
As it will lessen the huge burden of repatriation given to the number of stranded Indian nationals in the Gulf. He reveals large number of Saudi companies approached and wants to repatriate their Indian workers may be for short term or long term as the case would be. He said the repatriation is slightly different as it would be at their cost, what they need from India is flight clearances, The rest of it Kingdom would be handled.
Hopefully, this should be allowed with a couple of weeks, once permitted, we will have a larger number of people who would like to come India from Saudi Arabia. India is carrying out one of its biggest repatriation exercises in history, In the first phase 12 countries from where Indians will be brought back including Saudi Arabia.
- Indian mission in Saudi Arabia is focused on embarkation from 3 cities, Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah, soon other cities will also open up. Saudi authorities are providing facilities to those stranded there.
- The first flight bound for Calicut, Kerala with 153 passengers on board will take from Riyadh International Airport at 12.35 PM on Friday. The first pahse is limited evacuation, it will take some time to repatriate the large number of those registered with mission on board the special flights.
- In first phase 1000 Indians will be sent home in 3 flights to Kerala and 2 to New Delhi in this week, In next phase, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai will be considered for repatriation.
- For Saudi Arabia, Only special flights are the mode of transportation for the moment, ships will not be used from the Kingdom, We are working with authorities in this regard if requires.
- About 2,788 Indian nationals tested positive for Coronavirus, All of them are under treatment in various hospital of the Kingdom, there were 21 deaths of Indians, 6 from Kerala, 5 from Maharashtra, 4 from Telangana, 3 from Uttar Pradesh and 3 from Bihar.
