Indore: In a rough estimate, as many as 500 people from Madhya Pradesh, including a large number of people from the city, have been stranded in Doha, capital of Qatar, for the last four months. Even after approaching bureaucrats and political leaders of the state, they are still waiting and languishing in the hope of evacuation under Vande Bharat Mission.
They had all assembled in Doha hoping against hope to return home. Some are very ill while others have run out of their stock of medicines, but are, somehow, pulling along.
KK Jha, a stranded passenger, who lives in Tulsi Nagar, Indore, told Free Press from Doha that he went there from the city on February 26 with his family. His return ticket to the city via Mumbai was booked on an IndiGo flight scheduled on March 14. But around March 10, Qatar government banned all incoming flights from India following the corona outbreak. Hence his homecoming plans were botched.
Jha was told by a friend from Indore that he should be alert and keep a watch of any international flight flying out of Doha in order to reach India… ASAP. Since there would be rush for tickets, he was advised to be alert.
Accordingly, on March 21, he got an Oman Airways ticket to fly out from Doha to Muscat via Delhi, but prior to this, this time India had put a leash on all international flights on March 18 and since then, he and several others have been forced to stay put in Doha.
In the meantime, Jha informed had informed the Indian Embassy officials in Doha about his plight through a mail, but the envoy office has not yet replied.
No ray of hope from
He expressed deep sorrow and stated that despite approaching various influential bureaucrats and political leaders of the state, including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan via twitter, there appears to be little or no hope at all for this stranded “community”.
