Arrangements are being made for amnesty beneficiaries in the Gulf, Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar has said.

He also tweeted that Air India would shortly shift to direct ticketing to facilitate bookings abroad.

He made the observations on Twitter after concluding a detailed review meeting of Vande Bharat Mission (VBM), the Indian government's repatriation initiative.

The focus of the meeting was to ramp up the scale of the mission and enhance its efficiency, he noted.

Nine flights have been operated from Qatar so far as part of the mission, helping repatriate more than 1,520 people. The Indian embassy in Doha recently released an additional list of 10 repatriation flights from Doha for the ongoing Phase 2, from May 29 to June 4.

"Lessons learnt from VBM performance so far of 173 flights and 3 ships covering 34 countries," the minister tweeted on Wednesday, highlighting the key points of the meeting.

Phase 2 of VBM, which is currently under way (May 17 to June 13), is being further expanded, he said. "Will target 100,000 passengers from 60 countries."

"Preparations for the third phase - widening our footprint has commenced. Increase in entry points and expanded feeder flights being planned," he continued. "Working with state governments for more efficient use of cumulative quarantine capacity."



Related Story