The Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that more than 5.80 lakh Indians have returned home from abroad since the government launched the ‘Vande Bharat Return’ campaign on May 7 in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic. Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Shrivastava said that out of the total people returned, more than 97000 Indians have returned from Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh via ground check posts.
The first phase of the campaign was conducted from seven to 15 May. The second phase of the campaign was scheduled from 17 May to 22 May. However, the government had extended it to 10 June. The third phase was scheduled from 11 June to 2 July. Currently, the fourth phase of the campaign is underway.
Srivastava said in an online media briefing, “As of July 8, more than 5,80,000 of the 6,61,352 persons who have registered their requests with our mission abroad to return to India have returned under this campaign.”. At the same time, the Ministry of External Affairs also assisted in the safe evacuation of more than 1.2 lakh foreign nationals from 118 countries trapped in India during the lockdown.
