iNDICA NEWS BUREAU
The government of India will operate flights from the US to various cities in India from 11 June to 1 July, 2020 under phase three of the Vande Bharat Mission, an advisory from the Indian embassy in Washington, DC said Sunday.
India’s outgoing consul-general in San Francisco, Sanjay Panda, told indica that from June 15 through June 30, there would be daily Air India flights to Bangalore and Delhi.
Only Indian nationals and permitted categories of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card holders with compelling cases and registered with the embassy/consulates will be eligible to travel.
Tickets can be booked the on Air India website from 1030 Hrs EDT Monday.
The flight schedule is here: http://www.airindia.in/images/pdf/Corrected-Copy-of-Mission-Vande-phase-3-schedule-1.pdf
The embassy advisory lists compelling cases as such as those facing medical emergencies or requiring return due to bereavement in the family, students, pregnant women, elderly or those facing expiry of visas.
For OCI card holders, the following categories are permitted. They will not require any fresh emergency visa.
Minor children born to Indian nationals abroad and holding OCI cards.
OCI cardholders who wish to come to India on account of family emergencies like death in family.
Couples where one spouse is an OCI cardholder and the other is an Indian national and they have a permanent residence in India.
University students who are OCI cardholders (not legally minors) but whose parents are Indian citizens living in India.
Stranded Indian nationals in the US were advised to register with the embassy/consulate at https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/reg_indian_nationals at the earliest. OCI card holders need to register at https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/reg_oci_indian_nationals
The passenger will have to bear the cost of travel and will be required to undergo medical screening before boarding the flight. Only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to travel.
All passengers will have to undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days and sign an undertaking before boarding the flight.
On arrival in India they will be medically screened and would have to download and register on the ArogyaSetu app.
All passengers will be required to sign an undertaking (https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/pdf/Undertaking_for_Air_India-revised_on_June6.pdf), which will be collected from them at the airport before boarding the flight.
