States officials facilitating students evacuation from war-hit Ukraine

New Delhi: Students evacuated from war-hit Ukraine are being welcomed by local officials of their respective states at the airports and they are facilitating returnees to reach their homes safely.

The state governments, including Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, have set up help desks at various airports to assist the evacuees. During a recent high-level meeting on the Ukraine crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructed the Chief Secretaries of the states to contact the family members of all the students who are in Ukraine and inform them about the arrangements being made by the government.

As part of 'Operation Ganga' on Tuesday, the seventh flight carrying 182 Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine reached Mumbai from Romania's Bucharest. After the special flights reached Mumbai and New Delhi, the evacuees are being facilitated to reach their respective states, where local administration is helping them to reach their homes.

An official at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad informed that the evacuees belonging to Kadapa and Valmikipuram are being provided with special vehicles to reach their homes.

Officials in Goa are even visiting families of stranded students to communicate and assure them about safe evacuation from war-hit Ukraine. They assured the families of full help and support in bringing the children back at the earliest under `Operation Ganga'.

Earlier today, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the eighth flight carrying 216 stranded Indian nationals has departed from Hungary's capital Budapest for New Delhi while the ninth flight carrying 218 Indians took off from the Romanian capital Bucharest for New Delhi as part of 'Operation Ganga'.

Meanwhile, PM Modi while presiding over a high-level meeting on Monday evening over the Ukraine crisis said that the entire government machinery is working round the clock to ensure that all stranded Indians in Ukraine are safe and secure, said the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

Meanwhile, four union ministers have been deputed to countries bordering the war-hit nation to oversee the rescue efforts. The government has also decided to send Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, and General (retd) V K Singh to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Moldova to oversee the evacuation of Indians.
India is using the land routes to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack. (ANI)