Mumbai-bound Jet Airways flight aborts take-off at Riyadh Airport, departs runway

Jeddah, May 1: The government of India and its diplomatic missions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States have begun elaborate preparations for the massive evacuation of their nationals stranded or needing to return once the lockdown travel restrictions are lifted.

The Indian missions in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar have started registration for the return of their nationals. The move coincides with the directive of New Delhi to the Indian Air Force and Navy to get their big engines ready to bring back citizens stuck in the GCC states.

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has stated that the Indian missions in the GCC states have been liaising with local authorities for repatriation of Indians. More than eight millions Indians work and live in the Gulf countries.

The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said that it has issued directives to their nationals who seek repatriation to India to fill an application form so as to facilitate their travel when the authorities lift the travel restrictions. Similar advisories have also been issued by the embassies in other Gulf States.

The Riyadh Embassy said in a press statement that the purpose is only to collect data and no decision has been taken yet regarding resumption of flights to India.

The Embassy will make an announcement with regard to repatriation of Indian nationals when the government of India takes a decision in this regard, the statement said, adding that separate forms have to be filled for each individual, including Indian worker or his or her family members.

The Embassy is in the process of working out the modalities of evacuation of stranded Indians in line with the directions of the government of India, the statement pointed out.

The Embassy and the Consulate General in Jeddah are closely monitoring the situation and are taking all the required measures to ensure the welfare of Indian citizens.

The missions have taken all the necessary measures for the supply of food, medicines and other emergency assistance to Indians in need and that is in coordination and cooperation with volunteers of major community organizations across the Kingdom.

These initiatives have been accelerated following the interactions of Ambassador Dr. Ausaf Sayeed with community volunteers and social workers from all parts of the Kingdom. The Embassy has also been in touch with all major companies in the Kingdom that employed Indian workers to carry out regular monitoring of the workers’ health, especially in labor camps, and take all other precautionary and preventive measures to ensure their health and safety.

According to the plan drawn up by the government of India, the first commercial flights from the Gulf could start after May 3, if the nationwide lockdown restrictions are not extended.

INS Jalashwa, an amphibious assault ship, and two Magar class tank-landing ships are being readied for the evacuation purposes, India’s IANS reported.

These ships, which have a total capacity of 2,000 people, have started making arrangements as per the standard protocols laid out to deal with suspected coronavirus cases like social distancing and sanitization.

The Indian Air Force has been evacuating citizens from coronavirus hit countries such as China, Japan, Iran, Italy and Kuwait since January. The force has stated that it has kept C-17 Globemaster and C-130s on standby which can be used whenever they are required.

Apart from them, Air India flights are also being kept on standby to pick up stranded Indians from the GCC countries.

15 Indian fatalities in western region

Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Indian Consul General Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh said that as of Thursday a total of 15 Indian coronavirus fatalities were reported in the western region.

These included seven cases in Makkah, six in Madinah and two in Jeddah. Around 140 Indians have tested positive in the region where most of the coronavirus cases in the Kingdom have been reported.

He said that permission was not accorded from the Ministry of Haj and Umrah to use the Indian Haj mission facility in Makkah as the center to assist the community members with regard to the coronavirus related cases.

“Our medical in charge is in Makkah and with the support of some other staffers, he has been actively involved in lending a helping hand to those Indian nationals who are in distress,” he said.

“We are in regular contact with the Ministry of Health officials in ensuring quick medical assistance to those who are tested positive.” He said preparations are under way for repatriation of Indians once permission is ready to take them home. “We are maintaining a database of all those who contacted the consulate with a request for their repatriation,” he added.

Meanwhile, the bodies of two Indians from the southern state of Kerala who succumbed to the pandemic were buried in Makkah. Naletil Muhammad from Ancharakkandi of Kannoor district, a restaurant worker in Makkah, gave samples at King Faisal Hospital a few days ago after developing symptoms of the disease.

When the hospital authorities advised him to remain in medical isolation, he reportedly preferred to remain in isolation at his residence where he succumbed to the pandemic after a few days.

Muhammad’s two sons, who are working in Riyadh, alerted his colleagues when they failed to contact him over phone. They found him dead at his residence on Monday. Eventually, Ministry of Health officials sent all his six colleagues to medical isolation.

Kottuwala Ippu Musliyar from Thennala, Vengara in Malappuram district, was a well-known social worker in Makkah. He died of coronavirus at Hira Hospital on Wednesday after undergoing treatment for a couple of days.

Mujeeb Pukkottoor, a prominent Indian social worker and general secretary of Makkah chapter of Kerala Muslim Cultural Center, was authorized by their spouses to carry out their burial procedures.

Accordingly Muhammad was buried on Wednesday and Ippu Musliyar on Thursday at the designated area for the coronavirus deceased persons at Sharaie Cemetery in Makkah.

Jaipur, Jan 26: Rajasthan on Saturday on Saturday became the third state in the country to pass a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

he resolution was passed in the state Assembly amid opposition by the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of pursuing appeasement politics.

It is the second Congress-ruled state to pass such a resolution after Punjab. The Kerala Assembly too had passed such a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left Front alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The Rajasthan Assembly resolution, passed by voice vote, also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation of the National Population Register (NPR) 2020.

"It is evident that the CAA violates the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the House resolves to urge upon the government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before law for all religious groups of India," the state's parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal said, moving the resolution.

Leader of the opposition Gulab Chand Kataria of the BJP questioned the state's right to challenge the Act.

"Granting citizenship is a matter for the Centre. In such a situation do we have the right to challenge the CAA? The Congress should stop doing appeasement and vote bank politics," he said.

New Delhi, Jan 31: Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi on Friday said she will continue her fight till the convicts in the 2012 gangrape and murder case are hanged, shortly after a Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants till further order.

Devi told reporters her "hopes are dashed" but she will continue her fight.

"These convicts have no right to live. We keep getting disappointed by the system. I will continue my fight till the convicts are hanged," she said.

A Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case till further order.

Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana passed the order on a plea by the convicts seeking a stay on their execution on Saturday, February 1.

Devi said because of the loopholes in law the "criminals' lawyers had the audacity to challenge me in court that they will not be hanged".

The black warrants for execution of the death sentence against Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar Singh, were issued on January 17.

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" (the fearless one) was gangraped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.