Exclusive: Over 250 Indians stranded in Iran; Mahan Air offered free evacuation, Indian govt didn’t respond

In the wake of the global Covid-19 outbreak, contrary to what the Nardendra Modi-led Central government claimed about the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in different countries, it has come to the light that over 250 Indians who tested positive with Covid-19 in Iran itself, are waiting for evacuation. Most of them, residents of Kashmir, feel abandoned by the government.

When NH contacted them over the phone, they complained about the lack of action taken by the Central govt to evacuate Indians stranded in and around Tehran, Qom and southern Iran, lack of coordination between the Indian embassy in Tehran and GOI, and testing facilities in the Indian embassy.

A religious scholar, who has lived in Iran for five years, told NH over the phone from Qom that after some initial gung-ho, GOI showed no interest in the evacuation drive.

Saying that apart from pilgrims, there are nearly 400 students stranded in Qom – known as the holy city of Iran which is also the seventh largest city of Iran – an Indian said on condition of anonymity that Indians stranded in Iran need immediate evacuation as they are vulnerable and exposed to the Covid-19.

“The Indian community in Iran is facing the danger of mass transmission,” he said from Qom a few days ago over the phone.

“Iran is facing an unprecedented crisis and deficiency of resources. People are dying left and right here. Naturally, Indians want to go back to their home but GOI is doing nothing to take us back. After some initial sorties they just stopped the evacuation process,” he added.

But why the GOI maintained a “no response” approach to the offer made by Mahan Air – a Tehran based private airlines – for the evacuation of stranded Indian is beyond anybody’s comprehension.

A letter signed by the managing director of Mahan Air, Hmid Arabnejad, was sent to PM Modi on March 15, offering cost-free evacuation “without any commercial interest as a humanitarian initiative for Indian brethren”.

The letter, which is in possession of NH, reads, “Director General of Civil Aviation India has suspended operations of Iranian carriers to India due to health safety reasons and we duly abide by the same…As a result of this suspension, many Indian nationals estimated to be around 7000 have stranded across various locations in Iran and are in distress…”

“Our airlines will deploy appropriate aircraft to ferry the stranded Indians and land at a suitable designated airport in India; however this shall be possible only if GOI grants the permission and facilitate to ease the burden of India and strengthen the evacuation operation,” emphasized the letter sent by the Iranian carrier.

Seeking response of the Ministry of External Affairs vis-à-vis the number and condition of Indians stranded in Iran and offer made by Mahan Air, NH wrote to MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on March 24, but he responded that NH should follow the Twitter handle of India in Iran to get the answer of all the questions.

“Please take a look at EAM’s suo moto statement made in Parliament on Iran sometime back. Also, follow the Twitter handle of India in Iran,” replied the MEA spokesperson.

Again, on March 31, NH wrote to Raveesh Kumar seeking an update on whether GOI has responded to the offer, but no response was received till the time of publishing of this report. We will update the story as and when we receive their latest version.

Meanwhile, facing uncertainty and exposure to the viral infection, more than 280 Indians including some pilgrims returned to India on Mahan Air’s flight on Sunday.

“We had to pay for tickets and make all the arrangement on our own as GOI neither said yes or no to the offer made by Mahan Air,” said one of the Indians who returned to the country and is currently an inmate in an Army facility in Rajasthan to complete a 14-day quarantine period.

Talking to NH over the phone, he said, “As soon as we landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, GOI took us into protection and sent us to this Army facility.”

He claimed that the Army-run facility was poorly maintained.

As of 9.30 p.m. on March 30, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare India screened 15,24,266 people at airport of which 1117 were positive. While 101 had were discharged, 32 lost their life due to the pandemic.

In another development, PM Modi held a 75-minute interaction with all the Indian missions abroad on March 30. During the interaction, NH has learned, Modi asked the missions to pay close attention to the evolving situation as well as identification of best practices to contain the pandemic.

“The prime minister noted that extraordinary times require extraordinary solutions, which was why even in this globalized era, most of the world had quarantined itself,” the MEA said. Sources said that during the interaction, 10 Indian envoys were given an opportunity to speak.