Vande Bharat: Indians to fly back home from US on May 19

Civil aviation minister said today that phase-2 of "Vande Bharat" will take place from May 16-22 with flights being sent to various countries.

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Indian flights will be going to Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Canada, France, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand and Ukraine.

"In first phase of Vande Bharat, we were to bring back 1,4800 Indians on 64 flights. 8,500 Indians have already returned," the minister said, adding,"in phase-2 numbers being doubled. 30,000 more Indians will return from 31 countries on 149 flights."

According to the ministry, in phase 2 of "Vande Bharat" Mission, Indians will be flying back from the US on seven flights starting May 19.

In Delhi, passengers boarded the special train to Bilaspur in Raipur as authorities continued to send migrants home across the country even as a Railway official said special Shramik trains will now run from Old Delhi Railway Station with three trains set to leave for Bihar's Bhagalpur, Darbhanga and Barauni.

A special train carrying passengers from West Bengal reached Delhi today as services continued to run to ensure people got back to their respective states.

In Bhubaneswar, special train carrying 545 passengers started its journey for Delhi today on the second day of resumption of services

(With ANI inputs)