On Monday, family members of five Indian American couples from the US (New York) with an Overseas Citizenship of India reached the Mumbai airport and complained that they had to face “harassment” from the immigration authorities.
As a part of the Vande Bharat Mission, the Indian Government took steps to repatriate the citizens stuck overseas and these couples were a part of this flight.
A few categories having overseas Citizens of India cards are given permission to travel to India even during the travel restrictions that are related to the pandemic.
The people of Indian-Origin are issued an OCI card that gives them the leverage to travel without a visa.
One of the family members among the five OCI holders says that an official told them that they might not be allowed into the country as the Indian Consulate in the US has no authority.
These family members said that during these seven hours that they waited in the airport, they were not allowed to carry food and water.
As a part of the Vande Bharat Mission, only Indian citizens were allowed in the 1st phase of repatriation. The Government recently introduced new changes in the rules and permission is granted for only certain OCI card holders.
The travel and other documents of passengers arriving in the Vande Bharat Mission are screened and cleared by the Indian Embassy and its consulates.
One of the family members said “Why are they doing this? After a gruelling flight and being separated from home for so long. Not to mention the additional risk of staying at the airport for longer than necessary.”
Prem Bhandari, a New-York based social activist and Chairman of the Jaipur Foot USA was shocked to see the way OCI card holders were treated by Indian officials.
After having a word with the family members of these OCI card holders in the US, he has ensured to sort this out after taking the matter forward with officials in Mumbai and New Delhi. Besides, the Civil Aviation Secretary gave him an assurance that he would do the needful.
While this was sent to Civil Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, he didn’t respond to this. It has been years that Bhandari is handling cases related to Indian diaspora and he believes that this decision taken by the Indian Government during the pandemic is a major disappointment across the world.
He adds by saying, “These decisions give them the feeling the government no longer considers them as part of mother India. This is the promise that has been given to us by successive prime ministers from late Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,”
“It’s not their fault that their kids were born in the US while they were either studying or working in the US. Many of the Indian couples have three to six-month-old babies. Many of them have lost their jobs. But they are denied to travel back home along with their minor kids,”
He requests the Indian Government to give permission to all the nationals stranded in the US to travel to India with their non-Indian children.
 with an Overseas Citizenship of India reached the Mumbai airport and complained that they had to face “harassment” from the immigration authorities.){kind=link}