Thousands of non residential Indians are stranded in India due to current pandemic situation. Government of India banned air travel since 25th March 2020 and as a result, from past 60 days, NRIs are on a brink of loosing their livelihood, jobs and visas. There are thousands if not more who are still paying rent, phone bills, and other utility expenses in foreign currencies which is becoming more and more difficult to afford since we all stranded here without any income.

Government of India did come up with Vande Bharat mission which is a ray of hope but not completely helpful. The flight schedules were only from few major cities while there was no feasible means to travel to departure cities. Resumption of domestic travel is very helpful in this context but there are severe interstate travel issues. The mission is also run by Air India which is currently charging twice the price of regular fares which is quite unfair. Amidst all this, people who already had returning travel plans during April/May/June had their flights cancelled with credit shells from airlines and no cash refund which can be useful for booking Vande Bharat mission's expensive flights.

All of this and panic over the pandemic is creating immense amount of mental stress and pressure of falling livelihood of stranded people in India. While we all understand and appreciate the efforts of Government of India for the pandemic, ignoring the collateral damage is equally devastating. Like other countries, including even worse epicenters, Government of India should allow resumption of International air travel as soon as possible with putting precautionary measures in place.