67.5 million Indians brought back during global pandemic, says minister

India has brought back 67.5 million of its citizens from around the world since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, the Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday.

The number of Indians, whose stay abroad has been disrupted by coronavirus continues to grow making its global repatriation mission known as "Vande Bharat" the biggest such exercise in the history of the world.

"It is not just a mission that brought back stranded and distressed citizens from around the world, but Vande Bharat has been a mission of hope and happiness, of letting people know that they will not be left behind even in the most testing times," Puri said.

India commenced its evacuation operations from May 7, last year as regular, scheduled international commercial passenger flights to and from India remained suspended due to a complete lockdown to contain the pandemic.

Initially, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express played a key role in the operations. Afterwards, other air carriers were allowed to take part in the programme. Besides, aerial evacuation, even naval ships were used to bring back Indian citizens.

WAM