Doha: Simon D’Silva and John D’Sa are ‘The 2 apostles’ in the eyes of Seby Mascarenhas, a Benaulim-born long term resident of Qatar for their role in ferrying the stranded Goans by two different chartered flights from Qatar to Goa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKVGhP2c3bc The first chartered flight with 171 passengers landed in Goa on July 6. A second flight is scheduled to reach Goa on July 8 with an equal number of passengers. Most of the Qatar returnee have lost their jobs, while others making the journey back to India were in Qatar on Visit visa’s. Sick, old and pregnant woman were among others who reached Goa’s Dabolim Airport on July 6. All the people were registered with the Indian Embassy in Qatar for the Vande Mataram flight- the special reparation flights which are ferrying stranded Indians from different parts of the world. Strangely, the Vande Mataram flight to Goa did not take off as Goans did not have the numbers. They were only 80 people waiting to go back to Goa. A request to put together to take a combined flight with passengers from Goa and neigbouring Mangalore was shot down by officials in the Indian administration, people who were connected with the repatriation efforts informed. “John and Simon are strong members of this community and will always be inseparable when it comes to serving a cause be it the church, or at hosting a movie or a tiatr, like all humans they do agree to disagree at times, its time for us Goans to thank both. God bless the 2 apostles,” Seby wrote in the Qatar Goans, whatsapp group praising the efforts of the two individuals. There were many people from Goa to be repatriated and were waiting from February end. “The GWA in collaboration with ICC came forward to arrange chartered flight for the needy and deserving persons as an humanitarian service. Many Goans including people from neighbouring states like Karnataka and Maharashtra on short term visas, aged parents, pregnant women and students who came on visit are part of this stranded people,” a statement from GWA said. Simon D’Silva said that the initiative was taken in mid-May but due to lack of passengers it took longer than expected. D’Silva also said that hotel accommodation, transportation to neighbouring states with online entry passes and Covid 19 tests arrangement have been organized in coordination with the concerned authorities. John De Sa as Convener of the Covid-19 Stranded Qatar Goans Evacuation Team kicked off his mission on June 21. “Qatar Goans stranded since March 2020 after losing their Jobs and even after 3 months of patiently waiting to be evacuated to Goa, the stranded Goans saw no light at the end of the tunnel, at that juncture likeminded Qatar Goans got together and took responsibility upon themselves,” John De Sa wrote. “Covid-19 Stranded Qatar Goans Evacuation Team, (was started) with sole objective of flying stranded Qatar Goans to Goa, and within 2 weeks of forming the Team, are pleased to announce the departure of their Chartered Flight from Qatar to Goa, on 8th July 2020,” he added.