Parliament Question: Expenditure on Evacuation Operations

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2081 ANSWERED ON 31/07/2026 EXPENDITURE ON EVACUATION OPERATIONS 2081 SHRI ARVIND DHARMAPURI SHRI BALABHADRA MAJHI SHRI SHANKAR LALWANI SHRI JUGAL KISHORE SHRI VISHWESHWAR HEGDE KAGERI SHRI NALIN SOREN SHRI VISHNU DAYAL RAM SHRI TEJASVI SURYA SHRI DULU MAHATO DR. SANJAY JAISWAL SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH CHOUDHARY SHRI KHAGEN MURMU Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state (a) the mission-wise expenditure incurred by the Government on evacuation of Indian nationals from foreign countries during the last five years; (b) the number of Indian nationals evacuated, State/UT-wise, including Telangana; 1(c) the number of Indian nationals who could not be evacuated or remained stranded, along with reasons therefor; (d) whether any private or chartered arrangements were used for the evacuation, if so, the details of the expenditure shared by evacuees and the Government separately; (e) the steps taken to strengthen real-time registration, mission coordination and communication with families during evacuation operations; and (f) the specific difficulties faced by Indian Missions in coordinating evacuation operations, including any diplomatic bottlenecks with host Government? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH) (a) to (f) Government of India evacuated over 32 thousand stranded Indian nationals from several foreign countries under various special 2evacuation operations in last five years. List of India’s evacuation operations during last five years along with expenditure details are attached at Annexure-I. State-wise list of evacuated Indian nationals under these operations is attached at Annexure-II. After the onset of the West Asia crisis in 2026, Indian Embassies/Consulates facilitated the return to India of Indian nationals by arranging transit visas, local accommodation and transportation, cross-border movements, etc. Country-wise list these facilitated returns is attached at Annexure-III. To ensure safety, security and well-being of Indian nationals abroad, Government follow a structured, multi-layered mechanism to closely monitor the emergent situations. Based on prevailing circumstances, Government issues advisories to caution Indian nationals and remain in contact with Indian Missions. Various communication mechanisms are put in place for Indian nationals to reach Indian Missions/Posts, including email, multilingual 24x7 emergency numbers, social media, toll-free helplines & WhatsApp numbers. Indian Missions remain in connect with Indian community groups to swiftly share the crucial updates. During evacuation operations, 24x7 Control Rooms are 3operated at headquarters and abroad to provide information and assistance to the stranded Indian nationals and their families and facilitate the evacuation. Government is also undertaking final trials of a digital emergency response solution for use during evacuation operations. The solution provides a platform for stranded Indian nationals to register with basic and real-time information, along with geo-tagging locations and seek assistance during crisis situations. During evacuation operations, Government provides logistical support, including safe shelter, meals, local and cross-border movement and transportation and special evacuation flights as needed. Government also engages with various domestic and international airlines, shipping companies and transport logistics agencies in coordination with Indian missions to facilitate safe evacuation of Indian nationals. Evacuation operations in conflict zones involves challenges related to security, airspace restriction, loss of connectivity, restricted land movements, etc., which are addressed in coordination with other Indian government agencies, Indian Missions and foreign governments. Throughout any crisis, Government remains in continuous contact with 4concerned foreign governments through diplomatic channels to ensure the safety and well-being of Indian nationals abroad, as also to coordinate evacuation operations. ***** 5Annexure-I DETAILS OF GOVERNMENT’S EVACUATIONS/OPERATIONS DURING LAST FIVE YEARS Total number of Year Country & Name Expenditure Indian nationals of the Operation incurred evacuated Afghanistan 669 (including 15 other Operation Devi foreign nationals Shakti and 206 Afghans, 2021 1.90 crore which includes members of the Afghan Hindu/Sikh minority) Ukraine 18,282 2022 116.58 crore Operation Ganga Sudan 4,097 2023 (including 136 45.63 crore Operation Kaveri foreign nationals) Israel 1,343 (including 14 OCI 2023 16.87 crore Operation Ajay card holders and 20 foreign nationals) Haiti 17 2024 Operation 48.34 lakh Indravati Kuwait (Special Humanitarian 2024 45 (mortal remains) 12.84 lakh Airlift of deceased Indian nationals) Iran 2025 3,597 Operation Sindhu 27.68 crore 2025 Israel 818 6Operation Sindhu 2024-25 Syria 86 39.95 lakh 2022- Iraq 135 16.96 lakh 2025 Myanmar- Thailand Border 2025- (Repatriation of 1,741 76 lakh 2026 Indian nationals from Myawaddy- Thailand Border) Sri Lanka 424 (evacuated by special IAF flights HADR Operation on gratis basis) and 2025 5.80 lakh Sagar Bandhu 2,076 (facilitated by commercial flights) Iran via Armenia (Cross-border movement of Indian nationals from Iran via 2026 2,557 6.05 Crore Armenia to return by available flights during recent West Asia crisis) ***** 7Annexure-II STATE-WISE DETAILS OF INDIAN NATIONALS EVACUATED UNDER VARIOUS OPERATIONS State-wise list of Indians evacuated under Operation Ganga Sl. No. State / Union Territory Number of Citizens 1 Andaman & Nicobor 4 2 Andhra Pradesh 682 3 Arunachal Pradesh 1 4 Assam 53 5 Bihar 1003 6 Chandigarh 52 7 Chhattisgarh 210 8 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 5 9 Daman & Diu 5 10 Delhi 681 11 Goa 18 12 Gujarat 1020 13 Haryana 1436 14 Himachal Pradesh 289 15 Jammu & Kashmir 128 16 Jharkhand 158 17 Karnataka 615 18 Kerala 3343 19 Lakshadweep 4 20 Madhya Pradesh 412 21 Maharashtra 1025 22 Manipur 23 23 Meghalaya 40 24 Mizoram 1 25 Nagaland 4 26 Odisha 397 27 Pondicherry 28 28 Punjab 609 29 Rajasthan 934 30 Sikkim 26 831 Tamil Nadu 1479 32 Telangana 667 33 Tripura 32 34 Uttar Pradesh 1917 35 Uttarakhand 257 36 West Bengal 343 37 State name not available 272 Total 18282 State-wise list of Indians evacuated under Operation Kaveri Sl No. States Number of Citizens 1 Andhra Pradesh 106 2 Assam 13 3 Bihar 370 4 Chandigarh 1 5 Chhattisgarh 3 6 Delhi 27 7 Gujarat 492 8 Haryana 39 9 Himachal Pradesh 25 10 Jammu and Kashmir 1 11 Jharkhand 62 12 Karnataka 418 13 Kerala 172 14 Madhya Pradesh 20 15 Maharashtra 337 16 Manipur 1 17 Nagaland 3 18 Odisha 86 19 Punjab 62 20 Pondicherry 7 21 Rajasthan 87 22 Tamil Nadu 244 23 Telangana 129 24 Uttar Pradesh 800 925 Uttarakhand 24 26 West Bengal 52 27 State name not available 380 Total Indian Citizens 3961 Foreign Nationals (British- 3 + Sudanese-124 + Nepalese – 9) 136 Grand Total (3961 + 136) 4097 State-wise list of Indians evacuated under Operation Ajay Sl. No. State Number of Citizens 1. Andhra Pradesh 45 2. Assam 20 3. Bihar 29 4. Chattisgarh 6 5. Delhi 36 6. Goa 3 7. Gujarat 34 8. Haryana 28 9. Himachal Pradesh 18 10. Jammu & Kashmir 9 11. Jharkhand 13 12. Karnataka 39 13. Kerala 121 14. Madhya Pradesh 14 15. Maharashtra 108 16. Manipur 23 17. Meghalaya 2 18. Mizoram 1 19. Nagaland 2 20. Odisha 20 21. Punjab 9 22. Rajasthan 33 23. Sikkim 11 24. Tamil Nadu 131 25. Telangana 70 1026. Uttar Pradesh 145 27. Uttarakhand 14 28. West Bengal 248 29. State Name not available 77 30. Total Indian Citizens 1309 OCI Card holders (14) & Nepalese (20) 34 Grand Total (1309 + 34) 1343 State-wise list of Indians evacuated from Haiti to Dominican Republic under Operation Indravati Sl. No. State Number of Citizens 1. Gujarat 1 2. Karnataka 1 3. Kerala 1 4. Madhya Pradesh 1 5. Maharashtra 1 6. New Delhi 1 7. Odisha 1 8. Tamil Nadu 3 9. Telangana 1 10. UP 2 11. State name not available 4 Total 17 State-wise list of mortal remains brought back to India from Kuwait Sl.No State/UT Number of Citizens 1. Uttar Pradesh 3 2. Karnataka 1 3. Maharashtra 1 4. Tamil Nadu 7 5. Bihar 2 6. Kerala 23 117. Andhra Pradesh 3 8. West Bengal 1 9. Jharkhand 1 10. Punjab 1 11. Odisha 2 TOTAL 45 State-wise list of Indians evacuated from Iran under Operation Sindhu Sl. No. State/UT Number of Citizens 1. Uttar Pradesh 1198 2. J&K 1521 3. Laddakh 223 4. Karnataka 135 5. Delhi 114 6. Maharashtra 89 7. Tamil Nadu 71 8. Gujarat 56 9. Bihar 50 10. Telangana 31 11. Kerala 21 12. Andhra Pradesh 26 13. Madhya Pradesh 15 14. West Bengal 13 15. Haryana 8 16. Rajasthan 6 17. Uttrakhand 4 18. Jharkhand 3 19. Punjab 10 20. Chattisgarh 2 21. Odisha 1 12Total 3597 State-wise list of Indians evacuated from Israel under Operation Sindhu Sl.No State / UT Number of Citizens 1. Andhra Pradesh 50 2. Arunachal Pradesh 1 3. Assam 3 4. Bihar 30 5. Chandigarh 1 6. Chhattisgarh 2 7. Delhi 39 8. Goa 2 9. Gujarat 32 10. Haryana 21 11. Himachal Pradesh 7 12. Jammu & Kashmir 6 13. Jharkhand 7 14. Karnataka 32 15. Kerala 62 16. Madhya Pradesh 4 17. Maharashtra 93 18. Manipur 2 19. Odisha 16 20. Puducherry 5 21. Punjab 8 22. Rajasthan 25 23. Ranchi 2 24. Sikkim 2 25. Tamil Nadu 74 26. Telangana 37 1327. Uttar Pradesh 92 28. Uttarakhand 12 29. West Bengal 151 TOTAL 818 State-wise list of Indians evacuated from Syria in 2024-25 Sl. No. State/ UT Number of Citizens 1. J & K 45 2. Bihar 14 3. Uttar Pradesh 07 4. Andhra Pradesh 05 5. Tamil Nadu 05 6. Odisha 01 7. Rajasthan 01 8. Assam 01 9. Haryana 01 10. Punjab 01 11. West Begal 02 12. Kerala 01 13. Puducherry (UT) 01 14. Telangana 01 TOTAL 86 State-wise list of Indians evacuated from Iraq in 2022-2025 Sl.No. State / UT No. of Citizens 1. Uttar Pradesh 32 142. West Bengal 26 3. Bihar 18 4. Tamil Nadu 10 5. Andhra Pradesh 13 6. Telangana 2 7. Gujarat 3 8. Rajasthan 8 9. Kerala 3 10. Uttarakhand 2 11. Haryana 2 12. Chhattisgarh 1 13. Jammu & Kashmir 1 14. Madhya Pradesh 1 15. Delhi 2 16. Punjab 7 17. Jharkhand 1 18. Himachal Pradesh 1 19. Hyderabad 2 Total 135 State-wise list of Indians repatriated from Thailand-Myanmar Border in in 2025-2026 Sl.No. State / UT Number of Citizens 1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands 02 2. Andhra Pradesh 137 3. Assam 11 4. Bihar 54 5. Chandigarh 07 6. Chhattisgarh 02 7. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 06 15Daman and Diu 8. Delhi 37 9. Goa 04 10. Gujarat 129 11. Haryana 110 12. Himachal Pradesh 45 13. Jammu & Kashmir 42 14. Jharkhand 24 15. Karnataka 95 16. Kerala 37 17. Madhya Pradesh 14 18. Maharashtra 209 19. Manipur 01 20. Mizoram 01 21. Odisha 11 22. Puducherry 02 23. Punjab 125 24. Rajasthan 76 25. Tamil Nadu 123 26. Telangana 105 27. Uttar Pradesh 206 28. Uttarakhand 53 29. West Bengal 73 TOTAL 1741 State-wise list of Indians facilitated from Iran to cross over Armenia through land-borders Sl. No. State / UT Number of Citizens 1. Andhra Pradesh 14 2. Bihar 112 163. Delhi 40 4. Gujarat 91 5. Haryana 25 6. Jammu & Kashmir 980 7. Jharkhand 04 8. Karnataka 32 9. Kerala 43 10. Ladakh 293 11. Madhya Pradesh 03 12. Maharashtra 51 13. Odisha 08 14. Puducherry 14 15. Punjab 19 16. Rajasthan 22 17. Tamil Nadu 585 18. Telangana 03 19. Uttar Pradesh 192 20. Uttarakhand 08 21. West Bengal 18 22. Foreign National (Bangladesh) 01 23. Foreign National (Guyana) 01 24. Foreign National (Sri Lanka) 01 Total 2560 17Annexure-III Indian nationals facilitated to return to India by the Indian Embassies/Consulates in the wake of West Asia Crisis 2026 Details of assistance No. of Indian nationals Sl.No. assisted Bahrain 1 2500 (Assistance to obtain Saudi-transit visas) Lebanon 2 (Assistance to obtain flight 354 clearances for repatriation from Lebanon) 3 Israel (facilitated exit via Jordan) 248 Jordan (Assistance to Indian nationals within Jordan and cross- 4 1165 border movements from Iraq and Israel) Qatar 5 1,00,000 (facilitated travel upon partial opening of airspace) Kuwait (facilitated Saudi transit visas 6 30,000 and non-scheduled flight operations) Iraq (assisted in cross-border 7 3225 movements) Armenia (assisted in cross-border 8 3008 movements) 9 Oman 105 Total 1,40,605 ***** 18