Shillong, May 20: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday said the state government is waiting to get permission from the Centre for arranging flights to bring back citizens stranded in various parts of the country.

Sangma told reporters that many stranded people have expressed their willingness to pay for their flight tickets and because of that, the government has got in touch with a lot of airlines, which have also given different quotations for it (ticket fares).

He said some quotations were very reasonable depending on the distance as it comes Rs 7,000 to Rs 11,000 keeping in mind social distancing factor where the seats have to be reduced.

“Now the next step is to get the permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of Civil Aviation. Due to this, we were not able to go for the plane option though we had done our homework and we are all prepared for it. We are waiting for the Centre to give us a clearance,” the chief minister said.

Sangma however said that the government is paying for the special trains to facilitate the coming back of stranded citizens.

“The trains have started and have eased 70 to 80 per cent of the problem,” he stated.

He informed that trains will depart also from Haryana, Gurgoan, Mumbai and Pune.

“I spoke to Chief Minister of Delhi yesterday and also one of the ministers of Hyderabad. Both have committed that they will be sending the trains. Hyderabad has responded immediately and they will be sending the train on Thursday itself. Delhi said they will also be sending it immediately,” Sangma informed.