Operation Ganga to evacuate Indians continues at pace

Indian Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who is in Hungary to oversee the evacuation process of stranded Indian nationals due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, said that four buses with a capacity of 50 each are on their way to Poltava in order to bring back Indian students stranded in Ukraine's Sumy.

He said, "I am talking to the control room in Delhi. As many as four buses with a capacity of 50 each are on their way to Poltava to evacuate Indian citizens stranded in Sumy. Other logistical arrangements such as food have also been arranged. Depending on the situation, further plans will be chalked out from Poltava. As of now, all the arrangements are in place."

He further said, "As of tonight, we would have taken out somewhere around 6,200 students from Hungary. Generally, the evacuation process in Kharkiv or Pisochyn or the ongoing process in Sumy, the Government of India's commitment and putting all its resources down to that purpose that is total and there is no doubt. When you are doing an evacuation process out of a war zone, there are constraints that you cannot anticipate and the parties to the conflict even if you use your margin of diplomacy they have objectives that may not synchronise with your evacuation objective. I will be happy if we complete this evacuation process within the next two or three days."

A special flight, carrying 160 Indian evacuees from Ukraine, landed here on Monday from Budapest in Hungary.

The Air Asia flight, which evacuated the citizens, evacuated the stranded students from Hungary and landed at the airport at around 4-4.30 am.

Harishma, a student who is a Bengaluru resident, said, "It was really difficult. We travelled for three days through the metro tunnel. After we reached Ukraine border, the Indian Embassy evacuated us and brought us back. They had made all the arrangements such as food and water. I am happy that I am back in the country."

Gowardhan, another student, said, "After we crossed Ukraine border, the Indian Embassy provided all the facilities. I am thankful to the embassy for evacuating us."

The Indian Embassy in Kyiv on March 5 said that they will not leave any stone unturned to ensure the safe evacuation of Indian students from the Ukrainian city of Sumy and requested them to keep some more hours of strength.

Over the past week, more than 10,000 Indian students have been evacuated from Ukraine under Operation Ganga. Barring Kharkiv and Sumy, almost all Indians from the remaining regions of Ukraine have been evacuated.

(ANI)