The Indians from Bangladesh entered the country through three checkpoints
A group of 350 Indian nationals, mostly medical students, who were stranded in Bangladesh due to the travel restrictions, today returned home through north-eastern frontiers, the first such land-crossing since the COVID-19 outbreak in the region.
The Indian nationals, mostly from the northeastern states, crossed the border through the three checkpoints in Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura.
"This is the first land crossing of our nationals from Bangladesh during the pandemic," Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Riva Ganguly Das said as she saw off them at one of the three check posts on India-Bangladesh borders.
The Indian High Commissioner visited the Indian nationals going to Tripura through the Akhaura-Agartala Integrated Check Post and interacted with them.
The two other posts through which the Indians were returning home were Dawki-Tamabil crossing bordering Meghalaya and Sutarkandi-Sheola post bordering Assam.
"A #SevenSisters welcome: Around 200 #Indian Citizens, largely from NorthEast #India are crossing over through 3 land border posts (Dawki-Tamabil, Agartala-Akhaura,Sutarkandi-Sheola) today. HC @rivagdas visited Agartala-Akhaura & interacted with our citizens going home," the High Commission earlier tweeted.
The mission also shared videos of some Indian students sharing their excitement in being able to return home. The High Commission has launched a dedicated link on its website for the registration for Indians willing to return to India.
Repatriation from Bangladesh started on May 8 with the first batch of 168 Indian students on board a special Air India flight landing in Srinagar from Dhaka.
Subsequently, five more repatriation flights have been operated from Dhaka to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Srinagar.
Indian high commission officials said 1500 Indians have been repatriated under Vande Bharat Mission from Bangladesh through special flights.