Dubai: The expats are concerned of the new conditions for chartering flights put forward by the central government. According to the new order, the organisations or institutions which charter flights should first seek permission of the state government. The states can decide on this matter after considering the facilities including quarantine.
After getting the permission of state, they can approach the Ministry of External Affairs. The chartered flights which received permission of the state can approach the embassies and consulates for clearance.
All details of the passengers should be handed over in advance to the states and embassies. No changes will be allowed in the name of passengers. Those who fail in the COVID test at the airport cannot be replaced with other passengers, as per new conditions.
Earlier, the organisations could directly approach the consulate or embassy for chartering flights. After this, they had to seek permission from the Ministry of External Affairs. On submitting complete details of the passengers, they used to get permission within three days.
The organisations including KMCC booked chartered flights from Gulf in this way. However, name of the organisations or institutions is not added in the performa sheet. So, the government will not get any clue of who chartered the flights.
The date of implementing the new conditions is not finalized yet. With this, the Indian Embassies in Gulf countries will stop accepting applications for chartered flights, it is hinted.
The new conditions are expected to be a heavy blow for the expats who are waiting to return home. The situation will worsen after COVID certificate is made mandatory from June 25 onwards.
