New Delhi: As a flight carrying the first batch of Indians, who were stranded in Israel amid the ongoing war, landed in New Delhi, Rajya Sabha MP from Meghalaya Dr WR Kharluki and his family members also reached the national capital on Friday. “The MP, his wife and his daughter went for a pilgrimage, along with 27 other people from Meghalaya on September 29. But, their programme was cut short due to the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestine,” said a close official of Kharluki to ETV Bharat in New Delhi.
Kharluki, the Rajya Sabha MP, and his family arrived at New Delhi airport, along with 27 others, who were stranded in Bethlehem while participating in a pilgrimage tour in Israel. “Around October 6 and 7, Kharluki and others from Meghalaya were contacted by the Indian Embassy. The 27 Meghalaya citizens, including MP Kharluki, were promptly evacuated. First, they were brought from Cairo to Mascot and then from Mascot, they were brought back to India,” the official said.
From Cairo to Mascot Kharluki and other members were brought by WY 406 and from Mascot, they were brought to India by flight number WY 241. Earlier, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that he was in constant touch with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to ensure the safe return of all the people from Meghalaya. However, like several other returnees, Soudra Samanta from Mednipor of West Bengal was also very much excited after returning to India.
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“Our Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv created a link and asked us to fill the form. A day after the procedure, they sent another mail and asked us to provide more details if we were interested in coming back to India. It was on a first come first serve. Accordingly, they confirmed our return,” said Samanta to this correspondent.
Samanta was studying at the Ben-Gurion University at Beersheba in Israel in electrical engineering. India on Wednesday announced launching ‘Operation Ajay’ to bring back stranded citizens from Israel after Air India and other airlines suspended all their commercial operations to and from Israel. Special chartered flights will bring back the Indians under 'Operation Ajay'. As per an estimate, there are around 18,000 Indians in Israel, including students, professionals, and traders. The first flight carrying 212 passengers took off on Thursday night from the Ben Gurion airport in Israel and reached New Delhi on Friday.
