Hong Kong residents to be flown out

Special flight scheduled for June 20

Within days of 20 Indian soldiers having been killed in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh, a large number of Hong Kong residents in India would be evacuated because of the “emerging” situation.

The Chinese nationals, who are residents of Hong Kong and working in different States in India, will be flown back home in a special flight from Chennai on June 20.

Highly placed sources told

The Hindu that in an advisory to all the States, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the Government Secretariat of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China had requested immediate assistance for facilitating the movement of its residents in the country to board a special flight from Chennai “for their return journey to Hong Kong” on June 20.

MHA advisory

The Ministry advised the States that the travel of the Hong Kong residents and the services of their drivers be treated as “essential” and they be allowed to travel through the districts to reach the airport.

The authorities should facilitate the return of these drivers to the places of origin or residence, the advisory said.

With a sizeable number of Hong Kong residents living in Tamil Nadu, mostly working in oil companies, gas pipelines and IT companies, the State government has asked senior police officers in all cities and districts to facilitate their travel.

Since a 12-day complete lockdown has been declared in Chennai and parts of Kancheepuram, Chengalpet and Tiruvallur from June 19, the police said special passes would be issued to enable the Hong Kong residents to travel through district border checkpoints.

Parrying questions whether other Chinese nationals in India were also planning to return, a police officer said the instructions for now was only with regard to Hong Kong residents.

However, some flights were planned for moving out Chinese nationals, mostly students, tourists and businessmen, but that was in view of the pandemic and the lockdown, the officer said.