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The government of India has added 141 more flights to West Asian countries for the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission, its massive repatriation programme for citizens stranded overseas because of Covid-19-related travel restrictions.

The second phase was to end on May 22. However, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the ongoing phase will last till June 13 and that India is looking at making Frankfurt a hub for the mission.

With these new flights, more than half of them to the United Arab Emirates, the total number of flights in the second phase of the programme have gone up to more than 400, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.

The flights were added due to increased demand from citizens stranded in West Asian countries and the availability of adequate quarantine facilities in states for the returning Indians, the people said. As with all the flights operated so far under Vande Bharat Mission, priority will be given in the second phase to Indian nationals with compelling reasons for returning to the country, they added.

The additional flights are from the UAE (81 flights), Oman and Saudi Arabia (15 flights each), Kuwait (14 flights), Qatar (11 flights) and Bahrain (five flights).

A majority of the flights are bound for Kerala (84 flights), while the other destinations are Delhi (10 flights), Tamil Nadu (nine flights), Telangana (six flights) Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir (five flights each), Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (four flights each), Punjab (three flights), Odisha and West Bengal (two flights each), Chandigarh, Karnataka and Goa (one flight each).

The other 260-odd flights being operated during the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission are from Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tajikistan, the UK, Ukraine and the US.

The second phase of the repatriation programme began on May 16 and will continue till June 13, with all the flights being operated by state-run Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express. Private airlines are likely to be included in the third phase.

As of Thursday, a total of 23,475 Indians have been repatriated under Vande Bharat Mission. The second phase had included new destinations such as Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh City and Lagos, and had increased flights to the US and Europe.

More than 259,000 Indians in 98 countries across the world have registered to return under Vande Bharat Mission. Most of them are workers (28%), students (25%), professionals (14.5%), and short-term visa holders such as tourists (7.6%). Fishermen, deportees and Indian nationals who benefited from visa amnesties have also registered.

Bengaluru, Mar 5: Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal's wife Priya Bansal has filed a dowry harassment case against the entrepreneur at Kormangala police station in Bengaluru, sources said.

Priya alleged that ahead of their wedding, her father had spent Rs 50 lakh for the arrangements and given Rs 11 lakh in cash to Sachin instead of a car. Further, she has also alleged that Sachin has been pressurising her to transfer all the properties that were in her name to him. However, after refusing to do so her in-laws started harassing her.

A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against Sachin and three others at Kormangala police station in Bengaluru.

The police are investigating the matter.

Further details awaited.

Bengaluru, May 20: An owner of a hair cutting training salon in the city has given shelter to the jobless IT professionals and migrant workers hailing from north-eastern states and Nepal, in his salon.

Rahul Rai, the owner said, "The moment the lockdown started then I received many complaints from different corners that several persons became jobless and they were thrown out of their rented accommodations."

"They are from different states of the North-east and some of them are from Nepal also. I converted my hair-cutting training salon into a shelter home for them," he added.

A person who got shelter at the salon said, "I lost my job after the lockdown started. I was facing a lot of issues after my landlord had evicted me from my rented accommodation. I spent about a week nearby a lake. I managed to contact Rahul Rai through Facebook and he rescued me along with many others."