New Delhi: The first batch of Indian expats are set for their journey home from Maldives, as efforts are on to bring back stranded Indians across the globe. Almost 200 Indians from Maldives will arrive in Kochi on a ship by next week. They are expected to complete a quarantine period of 14 days on their arrival.
The expats will have to bear the expenses incurred during the quarantine.
The centre has also stated that it will not bear the cost of the flight tickets for expats returning home.
The registration of Non-Resident Indians(NRIs) wishing to return home have already begun in the Indian embassies of the respective nations.
The list of expats selected for the return journey will be determined on priority basis by the embassies. Once this list is approved by the state governments, the centre will give the nod for the expats' return.
The Kerala government has requested the centre to bear the travel expenses of certain categories.
Almost 4.14 lakh expats have registered with the NORKA website for returning home. Out of these 61,009 have lost their jobs, 9,827 are pregnant women, 10,628 are children, 11,256 are elderly and 2902 are students.
The number of expats seeking to return home for their annual vacation is 70,638, 41,236 are on expired visa, those with cancelled visas are 27,100 and 806 have been released from jails. Apart from these, 1,26,061 others have registered also with NORKA.
