Shrewsbury carer stranded in India pleads for help to get home

Dean Dhillon, who works for Hillcrest Manor care home in Minsterley, near Shrewsbury, went to the Punjab region to pay respects to his father, whose ashes he scattered in the River Ganges.

But the Indian authorities are not letting people leave who were not registered by a certain date, and he doesn't know when he'll be able to come home.

Shocking videos of police battering people with sticks have been doing the rounds on social media, and have left Dean and other stranded visitors terrified to go out and seek help.

He said: "I came to pay my respects to my dad. I've been coming out here for about four or five years now. When I got here it was normal for about a week before they started the lockdown. They have a really strict lockdown here. You daren't go out.

"The police just beat people up with sticks. There was one video of a guy who was just getting medicines. They don't ask questions.

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"I'm anxious to get back. I've got a duty to do. I want to go back to my job. I feel like I'm letting my team down. I want to be on the front line."

Thousands of Brits are believed to be stuck in India, and repatriating them is taking a long time due to clearance needing to be organised.

People have to register with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to get on the waiting list for flights, which had 6,900 on it this week just from the Punjab region.

Dean, 56, is not one of them, as he had no internet during the week-long window when people were last allowed to register.

He added: "I don't know what to do. I just want to go back home. I don't want to ask for handouts but I'm struggling at the moment.

"With the heat it's so frustrating. It's red hot to the point that some days I feel faint. It's hitting up to 40C and you're trying to get help on the phone but the Indian authorities pass you here, there and everywhere. They send you round and round in circles."

The first British repatriation flight left Goa on April 8. Since then three more have left India, and another 10 are scheduled for next week.

A spokeswoman for the FCO said the repatriation task is a "huge and complex" operation, and that consular teams are working around the clock to help thousands of British travellers to get home ."