Stranded Indians ask for more evacuation flights
THOUSANDS of Indians, including students, stranded in the US for weeks due to the Covid-19 related travel restrictions, are urging the government to operate additional flights to evacuate them and add more departure cities like Houston and Dallas with sizeable Indian population.
The worst affected people by this humanitarian crisis are the students, and emergency medical tourists, who need evacuation badly to avoid further financial strain.
There are around 30,000 students alone in the Houston Consular region, comprising eight US states with top universities.
Many students have left just before the lockdown and those who could not are ready to go after their semester exams last week.
An Indian national, who lost his close family and is desperately wanting to be home said, ‘If Air India can fly and charge exorbitant prices in the name of helping stranded
Indians, then why doesn’t India let private airlines fly.
‘This is not a help, instead, it’s robbing people, charging round trip fare for one way and still not letting the deserving people go,’ he said.
The Indian Embassy and consulates are working round the clock and facing challenges to cater to all emergencies, helping cancer patients, pregnant women, students, stranded tourists, laid-off workers and persons wanting to go home due to deaths in the family and expired visas.
Consulate helplines receive over 10,000 emails and calls daily.
Consulate officials said that they are not just helping with flights but also offering assistance by helping students with accommodation and essential services as their university and college dormitories closed down in March.
From May 9 to May 15, Air India operated commercial flights from the US to India facilitating the return of stranded Indian nationals.
Consul General of India in Houston, Aseem Mahajan, told: ‘In phase II, we are covering Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal - through New York - Bangalore, and Kochi from San Francisco. Flights to Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad will be from Chicago’.
‘The proportion of all consulates is the same. The reason for special flights from San Francisco, Chicago and New York is because Air India hubs are there. The closest hub for our Consular area comprising 8 states; Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska, is Chicago,’ Mahajan said.
A total of seven flights from the US will be a part of the second phase break down.