A private charter flight brought back 170 Kashmiris on Thursday from Dubai even as hundreds others are still stranded in various emirates of the UAE. This was the first international charter plane from Dubail that landed at the Srinagar International Airport.
Several Kashmiris still stranded at Dubai told this newspaper that they were facing immense hardships there.
“The Rs 26,000 Dubai-Srinagar airfare in the repatriation flights is simply unaffordable for me as I have been here without a job and have exhausted all my savings on rent and food,” said Safdar Mehraj, a Kashmiri in Dubai.
“There were only two flights allocated by the government under Vande Bharat Mission for Srinagar from Dubai. Those organising the charter flights are not getting permissions easily,” Mehraj said.
Mushtaq Ahmad, another stranded Kashmiri in Dubai said: “I was running a business here which is now closed for last several months and there is no hope of its resumption till December.”
Ahmad said he was taken ill few days back and had to ask for Rs 50,000 from home. “The condition of our salespersons is all the more worse. They are also left with no money now. Who will send them money for air tickets?” he asked.
A Kashmiri working in the UAE told Greater Kashmir that he and his friends had “recently pooled some money” to buy air tickets for financially ailing stranded persons to send them back to Kashmir.
He said many philanthropic groups of Kashmiris were trying to help those in need. “We bought two tickets, but the question is why the airlines are charging hefty amounts. People like job seekers, salespersons, etc. are in a desperate situation,” he said.
A group of Kashmiri businessmen in Dubai, which is coordinating a SpiceJet charter flight to Srinagar for Friday had to cancel it at the last moment “due to 30 vacant seats”.
“250 persons had registered for the flight but we fell short of 30 passengers at the last moment. We had to cancel the flight. For those who have made the payment for the flight, we will try to accommodate them on the next flight when we get sufficient number of passengers,” said Musadiq Shah, coordinator of J&K Shopkeepers and Employees Forum in UAE.
Among the 170 passengers who returned today included 40 employees of a popular business group.
Kaisar Zargar, who coordinated the charter flight said: “We are quite happy that our efforts have yielded results and the first charter flight from Dubai with many stranded Kashmiris arrived here today.
“We have got the permission for organising more flights and we look forward to facilitate return of more stranded Kashmiris from Dubai.”
Earlier under the Vande Bharat Mission of the Government of India, two Air India flights from Dubai on May 22 and June 11 arrived in Srinagar bringing more than 300 stranded Kashmiris.