Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Aug 13: The long wait of passengers from coastal Karnataka waiting to return to India from Kuwait is over. The Kuwait Airways flight which had planned to fly to the airport here from Kuwait with 114 NRI Indians finally got the clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). With this, efforts made by NRI Indians from Kuwait for the last 45 days have borne fruits.

The said chartered flight had been arranged from Kuwait to Mangaluru 45 days back. Al-Rashid based in Kuwait had booked this chartered flight which was scheduled to take to the skies on June 22. Many were eager to return to their hometowns by this flight but the flight was cancelled for want of DGCA permission. Efforts were made twice thereafter to get the permission, but they failed.

Al-Rashid concern had applied for the said flight on August 12 but at the last minute suspicion over getting the permission arose because of technical snags. NRI based in Kuwait, Mohandas Kamath took this issue up with Arathi Krishna, former adviser of Indian Consulate at Kuwait. Arathi immediately contacted DGCA office and collected details.

Permission to ferry 500 passengers to India from Kuwait was given. As on August 9, the quota of 500 was exhausted by flights which also went to destinations like Vijayawada and New Delhi. DGCA had failed to provide clear information about the number of flights operated by Air India and private companies. Because of this technical issue, the permission could not be given. Arathi intervened in the issue, took up the issue with senior officials, and succeeded in getting the permission by 6 pm on August 12.

As many as 114 passengers left from Kuwait at 9.50 pm Indian time on Wednesday. The flight reached Mangaluru in the early morning hours on Thursday August 13.