News

Special plane to repatriate Sri Lankan pilgrims from India

18 Mar, 2020

The government has decided to deploy a special plane to India this evening to repatriate Sri Lankan pilgrims who are stranded in New Delhi and Chennai.

The Ministry of Buddha Sasana said preparations are underway to bring back close to 900 pilgrims to Sri Lanka before midnight today.

All pilgrims who return from India today will be directed to quarantine centres, it added.

The Ministries of Foreign Relations and Buddha Sasana said yesterday that they were coordinating and facilitating the arrangements for the early return of approximately 1200 Sri Lankan Buddhist Pilgrims currently in India.?

These pilgrims had arrived in India before the Government of Sri Lanka suspended Dambadiva pilgrimages on 09 March 2020.

These measures come in the wake of the travel and other restrictions that have arisen due to the rapidly spreading Covid-19 in Sri Lanka and India.?

Meanwhile, all landing of aircrafts from overseas, as well as passenger arrivals will be suspended for 2 weeks from midnight today. (Colombo Gazette)

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