Over 3.9 million people facilitated via Vande Bharat Mission: Hardeep Puri

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday informed that more than 3.9 million people were facilitated international travel ever since the Vande Bharat Mission was launched.

Taking to Twitter, Puri shared data that showed that on December 18 (Friday) itself 8,546 Indians returned from various locations such as Sharjah, Dubai, London, Toronto, San Francisco, among others.

Now in Phase-7, the mission with 23 active air bubbles has transformed into the largest repatriation mission of its kind, he said.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava earlier informed that Phase 8 of Vande Bharat Mission has been extended till December 31.

The Vande Bharat Mission started in early May to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus -induced travel restrictions.