External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that he is personally monitoring the situation of evacuation of stranded Indian citizens from war-torn Ukraine…reports Asian Lite News
The second evacuation flight of Air India, carrying 250 Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine, landed at the Delhi airport during the wee hours of Sunday. The flight took off from Romanian capital Bucharest on Saturday evening as India grappled to bring home its stranded citizens from Ukraine through the land borders of neighbouring countries in the face of Russian invasion.
The flight, AI1942, landed at the Delhi airport around 2.45am on Sunday.
Hours earlier, India had brought back the first batch of 219 Indian nationals from the East European country via Romania. The third evacuation flight (AI1940), scheduled to depart from Hungarian capital Budapest, is expected to return with evacuees to Delhi on Sunday, according to officials.
The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since February 24 morning when the Russian military offensive began. Therefore, the Indian evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest.
Indian nationals who reached the Ukraine-Romania border and Ukraine-Hungary border have been taken to Bucharest and Budapest, respectively, by road with the assistance of Indian government officials so that they can be evacuated in these Air India flights, the officials said.
The government is not charging the rescued passengers for the evacuation flights, they said.
Jaishankar personally monitoring situation
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that he is personally monitoring the situation of evacuation of stranded Indian citizens from war-torn Ukraine.
“Regarding evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine, we are making progress. Our teams are working on the ground round the clock. I am personally monitoring,” Jaishankar tweeted.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine intensified in the early hours of Thursday after Russian forces launched a major assault on Ukraine, firing missiles on cities and military installations and posing a serious danger to the Indian citizens residing there.
Jaishankar further informed that the first flight to Mumbai with 219 Indian nationals has taken off from Romania.
Early this week, the Indian Embassy in Kiev issued a fresh advisory for Indian citizens in Ukraine, cautioning them not to move to any of the border posts without prior coordination with the Indian government.
The Indian Embassy further said that the situation at various checkpoints is sensitive and the Indian Embassy in Kiev is working continuously with the embassies in other countries for evacuation of Indian citizens.
The Union Minister of State for PMO, Jitendra Singh, has also advised the Indian students in the war-torn country to stay in touch with the Indian Embassy there.
219 reach Mumbai
Answering the prayers of hundreds of their anxious relatives, 219 Indians, mostly students and a majority of them girls, finally landed here by Air India’s first evacuation flight from Bucharest, Romania, late on Saturday, officials said.
The AI-194 special service with the passengers — largely Indian students studying in various universities in Ukraine — landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), sending waves of relief among their near and dear ones keeping vigil outside the airport.
Expressions of joy, easing of intense stress, weary smiles or controlled tears of happiness were visible among the evacuees, some of whom managed to speak with their waiting kin outside on video-calls.
At the CSMIA, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar and other officials received, welcomed and comforted the evacuees, as they trooped out of the arrival lounge.
In the past few days, many of them had sent desperate SOS for help through social media, seeking return to their parents and motherland.
This is the first batch of evacuees arriving from the war-hit Ukraine, and several more airlifting operations are expected in the next few days.
An estimated 1,200 students from Maharashtra, besides some who had gone for business or tourism purposes, are stranded in Ukraine, as their concerned families await news from them.
Goyal said that more flights will be operated over the next few days and will not stop till all Indians are airlifted from there safely.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minster of External Affairs S. Jaishankar and other officials are continuously monitoring the situation and will render all help to those stranded in the war-hit country.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has directed the state officials to coordinate with the Centre for the evacuation process and extend all possible help to the evacuees.
State Congress President Nana Patole and Maharashtra minister Vijay Wadettiwar said the state government has managed to contact over 350 of the stranded persons from Maharashtra.
State minister Uday Samant wrote to the Centre three days ago seeking urgent assistance for evacuating the stranded people including those from Maharashtra.
Over two-dozen students are from Mumbai, plus others from Thane, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and different districts or cities.
The CSMIA was fully geared to handle the evacuees reaching here by AI-1944 with a special corridor and all necessary facilities.
As per Centre’s guidelines, all the students shall undergo a mandatory temperature check and will be required to produce a Covid-19 vaccination certification or a negative RTPCR report on landing.
In case they are unable to show these documents, they will be made to undergo an RTPCR test, at the airport, free of cost, and permitted to leave only if they test negative.
For those testing positive, they shall be clinically managed as per the government protocols, including quarantine or treatment.
The CSMIA has also fenced a special area at the airport for them to sit, giving them free WiFi access, food, water and medical assistance if required.