Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai (SHP)

Dubai, Jul 5: Stranded Indians in the UAE have suffered a blow to their hopes to fly back home after India’s civil aviation ministry denied approvals to community organisations chartering UAE airlines for repatriation.

In a report by the Gulf News, representatives of different community groups confirmed that the repatriation flights that they had chartered with UAE airlines were cancelled since Friday.

As per the groups, although respective state governments were giving their approvals for the airlines, the final approval needed from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was not coming through.

Representational image

Although the Indian missions in the UAE stated that they had not received any official communication in this regard, a section of the Indian media reported otherwise. The announcement by the Indian aviation ministry was reportedly made after UAE put curbs on carrying passengers from India to the UAE on Indian airlines. While clarification on the matter has still not been given, the cancellation of some repatriation flights chartered with UAE airlines has caused disappointment to the hundreds of stranded Indians.

Office bearers of the Tamil community group Quaide Millath Forum stated that they had to arrange accommodation for dozens of stranded Indians. These passengers, who were scheduled to fly out on an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah to Madurai early on Saturday morning, had already reached Sharjah airport by Friday night.

“We had managed to prevent people from Dubai and Sharjah from coming to the airport as soon as we received information that the flight has been cancelled due to the approval issue. But more than 40 people had already come over very early from Abu Dhabi and Al Ain and we had to make arrangements for their accommodation,” said Abdul Rahman Rabbani of Tamil Forum in a report by Gulf News.

As per the reports, the stranded lot included pregnant women, young children, elderly patients and unemployed workers.

While some managed to stay with their relatives, several others were given hotel accommodation on Friday night. However, those in hotels had to vacate and look for other options on Saturday.

“Since there is an issue with entering Abu Dhabi, they cannot go back on the day they arrived. Therefore, some are staying with some relatives and friends,” said Rabbani.

Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) in Abu Dhabi said a flight it had chartered with Etihad Airways, which was supposed to fly 178 passengers and five infants from Abu Dhabi to Kozhikode in Kerala, was also denied permission.

“This was the 13th flight that we chartered with Etihad for our repatriation mission. We had never had any issue earlier. We used to get DGCA permission in no time after submitting the approvals from the Kerala government and the Indian Embassy here,” said Shukoor Ali Kallungal, president of KMCC Abu Dhabi. Necessary information concerning the cancellation of flights was also conveyed to the passengers who were bound to depart on Saturday, said Shukoor.

“The issue is that many had already vacated their flats because they were to leave the country. Those people will now struggle for accommodation until they can fly again,” he added.

Zubair Siddiqui, who was to catch a flydubai chartered flight from Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad on Friday, expressed his disappointment over the last-minute cancellation of the flights conveyed to him by the officials of Al Manar Islamic Centre.

Siddiqui, who worked with the procurement department of a landscaping company, had lost his job in April. He was since then dependant on his friends and cousins.

After being unable to get repatriation via the Vande Bharat Mission, Siddiqui had booked a ticket on a chartered flight.

“Today July 3rd our scheduled flight Flydubai Dxb to Hyd was cancelled adding to our misery what is @MoCA_GoI doing to us and why? Why aren’t they permitting when all approvals are done? Please help,” Siddiqui tweeted his ordeal on Twitter.

According to sources, about 70 per cent of the chartered services for Indian repatriation have been operated by UAE airlines.

In a news report by Gulf News dated June 17, several companies and community groups chartered repatriation flights from UAE airlines, with some of them operating the first international flights to some destinations in India.

One of the airlines FlyDubai confirmed that a Dubai to Madurai flight as well as a flight to Hyderabad had been cancelled on Friday.

“We are working with the relevant stakeholders,” the airline was quoted in a report by Gulf News.

Meanwhile, Etihad, Emirates and Air Arabia have not released a comment on the matter.

However, community organisations said chartered flights by UAE airlines that had received DGCA approval prior to Thursday were undertaking operations.

One such Emirates flight that operated from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday evening flew home P Shajahan, an Indian worker who had missed a repatriation flight to Kerala after he had drifted off to sleep in Terminal 3 on Thursday evening.