Day eight of the Vande Bharat Mission will see one flight from Jeddah to Kochi and two separate flights from Dubai to Bhubneshwar and New Delhi. Nearly 550 passengers are expected to fly back today from Jeddah and Dubai.

The flight from Dubai to Bhubaneshwar will be the first flight to Odisha under the Vande Bharat Mission. Priority for repatriation is being given to workers in distress , elderly people, urgent medical cases, pregnant women and others stranded in difficult situation. Only those who are found asymptomatic will be allowed to board the flight.

Meanwhile,Railway Ministry has said that regular passenger service including Mail, Express, Passenger and Suburban Services have been cancelled until further advice. It said that all the booked tickets for the above trains for the period up to 30th June 2020 will be cancelled and full refund will be generated. However, the Shramik Special Trains and Special passenger Train services which started from 12th May of this month, shall continue to operate.

Railway has also issued order for the refund of fare in case passenger is not found fit for travel due to symptoms of corona. The order states that if during the screening a passenger has very high temperature and symptoms of corona virus, the passenger will not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets. In such case, full refund will be provided to the passenger. Railway said that TTE certificate will be issued to the passengers at the entry, checking and screening point mentioning the number of passengers not travelled due to symptoms of Covid-19. After getting the TTE certificate, online TDR shall be filed for refund by the passengers within 10 days from the date of journey and the amount will be refunded.

In another update,Finance Ministry today clarified that there is no proposal under consideration of government for any cut whatsoever in the existing salary of any category of Central Government employees. In a tweet, the Ministry said that the reports in some section of media regarding this are false and have no basis at all. Minister of State for Personnel Dr Jitendra Singh also termed it as fake news.

A private TV channel had reported that Central Government is mulling to cut 30 per cent salary of its employees.