Per day cap on returnees increased

KATHMANDU, AUGUST 31

The government has decided to increase the number of passengers allowed to return home from abroad every day.

The Cabinet meeting held on Sunday has decided to allow up to 800 passengers to enter the country per day via air route. Prior to this, the government had capped the daily limit at 500 passengers. However, the Cabinet has said the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) should prepare the schedule only after making arrangements of proper quarantine services.

The regular international flights are reopening from September 2.

And the Cabinet has also decided to let in Nepalis willing to return home on their own or the ones sent back by their employers. Until now, migrant workers wanting to return home have to coordinate with the Nepali embassies in their respective work destinations.

Now it is no longer mandatory for workers to take the chartered flights home.

Till date, the government has been operating chartered flights to evacuate Nepali workers stranded in Gulf countries due to the COV- ID-19 pandemic. The fifth phase of repatriation flights is ongoing at the moment.

Under this fifth phase of repatriation, 552 Nepalis returned from the United Arab Emirates today.

As per Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Himalaya Airlines repatriated 156 passengers from Abu Dhabi, while Air Arabia evacuated 142 passengers from Sharjah. Similarly, Nepal Airlines Corporation brought back 254 Nepalis and four dead bodies from Dubai.

Amid this, seven domestic flights were conducted with special permission from the government.

Among the total flights, Summit Air conducted two flights, one each from Dolpa and Simikot to Kathmandu.

Manang Air conducted two flights from and to Phaplu. Similarly, Sita Air conducted two flights from Surkhet and Nepalgunj to Kathmandu, while Kailash Air conducted a flight from and to Butwal today.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 1, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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