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New Delhi, Apr 26: The Centre will bring back the Indian citizens stranded abroad due to the ban on arrival of international passenger aircraft, only if the respective states they belong to agree to allow them to come back home and make necessary arrangements to quarantine them after their return.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has started consultations with the State Governments on bringing back the Indians, who got stranded in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada and many other foreign countries due to the ban on arrival of international passenger aircraft to any airport in the country. The decision on facilitating their return to the country would be taken after getting feedback on preparedness of the States and the Union Territory to receive them following all required health precautions, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba said.

Gauba on Saturday had a video-conference with the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories to review the implementation of the restrictions on travel and transport as well as the lockdown imposed across the country to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the Government earlier either evacuated or facilitated the return of nearly 28000 Indians from a number of foreign countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it almost stopped doing so after the ban on arrival of international passenger aircraft was enforced on March 23 in the wake of the spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases in India.

Thousands of Indian students, tourists, professionals and others are stranded around the world, including in the countries, where respective governments had imposed lockdowns to contain the pandemic. They have been desperately requesting the government on social media to evacuate them.

Bengaluru, Mar 5: Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday admitted in the legislative assembly that corruption was deep-rooted in government offices and held transfer racket as the root cause of the graft menace.

“Unless we root it out from the system, we can never uphold the spirit of the Constitution and ensure equitable justice to people. If legislators lend support (to this cause), then we can weed out this menace,” Yediyurappa said during a special discussion on the Constitution.

Successive governments have been accused by opposition parties of running a transfer racket, but there’s very little done to institute a probe or order a crackdown following the allegations.

The chief minister’s candid admission came after senior Congress MLA HK Patil, quoting a report from Amnesty International, said 63% of people in Karnataka give bribe to get their work done in government offices. The CM said he agreed with the report in toto.

Riyadh, June 24: Thousands of expatriates who managed to return to their home countries from Saudi Arabia during covid-19 lockdown are now in a dilemma as the Kingdom has clarified that it will not allow their re-entry till the end of the corona crisis. 

The Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat) announced on Tuesday that the mechanism to resume extension of the exit and re-entry visas for expatriates who are outside the Kingdom will be announced only after the end of the pandemic crisis.

The Jawazat stated this on its Twitter account while responding to queries from a number of expatriates who are currently outside the Kingdom and whose exit and re-entry visas have expired.

They inquired about the possibility of returning to the Kingdom after the resumption of international flight service. 

The Jawazat reiterated that the return of expatriates who left Saudi Arabia will be only after the end of the pandemic and in accordance with the process to obtain a valid re-entry visa.

The directorate said that in the event of any new decisions or instructions in this regard, they will be announced through the official channels.

It is noteworthy that the Jawazat had previously confirmed that its electronic services are continuing through the Absher and Muqeem online portals of the Ministry of Interior and that the service for messages and requests is still available and continuing through Absher for all the beneficiaries of its services.