230 stranded Indians leave Bangladesh

About 230 stranded Indians have left Bangladesh for Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya through its land ports Thursday morning. 

Of them, a batch of 125 Indians left for Agartala from the Akhaura border in Brahmanbaria.

High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das came to the border of Akhaura to see off the evacuees through the land route.

She said: “The returnees will have to go through health check-ups and stay in mandatory quarantine after they reach India.

“Previously, a total of 1,500 Indian nationals were sent back via air. This is the first batch of evacuees that left Bangladesh by the land route.”

Meanwhile, another batch of 79 stranded Indians has left through the Sheola land port in Sylhet, while a batch of 20 stranded Bangladeshis returned from India on the same day. 

“After two-long months of stagnation, the land port of Beanibazar suddenly came to life on Thursday morning,” said Sheola Immigration Police In-Charge SI Abul Kalam.

“The Bangladeshi returnees—mostly from Sylhet, Moulvibazar, and Rajshahi—were provided health cards from India. Besides, health care professionals here are also doing a medical check-up on them and they have been directed to stay in 14-day mandatory home quarantine.”

With these evacuations, till Thursday, more than 1,700 people have been evacuated from Bangladesh to India, under the Vande Bharat Mission of the government of India to bring back Indians from abroad, who have been stranded due to the outbreak of Corona pandemic and subsequent disruption of international travel.

The evacuation from Bangladesh started on 8th May. Flights from Dhaka have operated to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Srinagar.