NEW DELHI, 4th May, 2020 (WAM) — The Indian government will give priority to its citizens in the Gulf who are “distressed” while arranging their evacuation in the coming days.

The description of being “distressed” include those who are no longer gainfully employed, people who arrived in the Gulf on visit visas which have since expired, pregnant women, the elderly and those who are in need of medical treatment in their home states in India.

“Indian embassies are preparing a list of distressed Indian citizens. This facility would be made available on payment basis,” the Ministry of Home Affairs here, set out the details today in a press release.

The Ministry made it crystal clear that it “will be facilitating the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner.” This means only those Indians who have “compelling” reasons to return to India will be evacuated.

If an Indian living abroad wants to visit his native country for no reason, such a request will not be accommodated on “non-scheduled commercial flights” which are being arranged for the evacuation.

Since the repatriation “facility would be made available on payment basis” according to the Home Ministry, extremely distressed Indians, who cannot afford to pay for their return are likely to be evacuated by ships, which are being readied for this task.

For this and other such procedural details about the evacuation, “the Standard Operating Protocol, SOP, has been prepared in this regard,” the Ministry said.

Meanwhile, Sunil Kumar, Deputy Director General of India’s civil aviation authority, reiterated that a complete ban on regular international flight arrivals at airports all over India will continue till 23:59 hours local time on May 17.

“The restriction shall not apply to international flights specifically approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, DGCA,” Kumar instructed all airlines and airport operators in a circular which was shared with the media.

This means flights evacuating Indians from the Gulf will not be regular commercial flights, but those which are specially sanctioned by the DGCA. Requirements under the SOP, shared with Emirates News Agency, WAM, mean that the processes for evacuation will get under way by May 7, not that the repatriation flights or ship sailings will start on that day.

Yesterday, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba shared with his counterparts in states details of the central government’s expectations about the volume of Indian nationals seeking to return home. He asked individual states to ready quarantine and testing facilities for the returnees.

The process of evacuating Indians, in which the Gulf region is a priority, is expected to begin only after Gauba and his team are satisfied that states have made adequate arrangements for testing and quarantine.