Daijiworld Media Network – Dubai

Dubai, May 7: In a happy news in times of distress, the first flight handling the evacuation operation is all set to leave on May 12 from Dubai to Mangaluru. The timing of the flight which will bring back stranded Indians from Dubai to Mangaluru will be announced soon.

Speaking to Daijiworld, Karnataka NRI (KNRI) Forum Praveen Kumar Shetty said, “The first flight from Dubai to Mangaluru has finally been announced. We had spoken to union minister Sadananda Gowda and other external ministry officials who confirmed about the flight.

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“Top priority will be given to six-month pregnant women and above, people with medical emergency and anyone who has any other sort of emergency back home. Passengers from Mangaluru will be quarantined in Mangaluru while passengers from other districts like Udupi and Kasargod will be sent to their respective places where they will be quarantined,” he said.

It may be recalled, Praveen Kumar Shetty had taken the initiative and put in efforts to convince the Indian central government to facilitate flights to help non-resident Indians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to return to their motherland.

Daijiworld media too had taken the initiative to draw the attention of concerned authorities and exert pressure to include flights from gulf to Bengaluru and Mangaluru. It had hosted live programmes on Daijiworld TV conveying the difficulties of NRIs to the government and the people’s representatives. The copy of the programme was also sent to the chief minister’s office and other concerned departments.

Kannadigas living across the gulf countries had earlier expressed displeasure as no flights from any of the Middle Eastern countries were scheduled to take off in the first list issued by the government of India to bring back stranded Indians from abroad. According to data released by KNRI there are nearly 2,000 UAE residents who had applied for immediate return.