Over 300 Odia students pursuing medicine programmes in Ukraine have pleaded for evacuation, informed Ravi Kant, Resident Commissioner, Odisha, on Friday.
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“We have information about 325 persons stuck in various parts of Ukraine. Requests for evacuation are coming from the stranded students and their family members back home,” said Mr. Kant, who is the nodal officer for the safe return of students and workers, over phone. The number is likely to go up, he stated.
“The airspace is closed and there has been heavy shelling. Plans are afoot to take stranded Indians to borders of other countries such as Romania, Poland and Hungary. Once they cross border, situation can be termed under control,” he observed. He hoped that Indians would start crossing borders by Friday night or Saturday morning.
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CM’s directive
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced that the government would bear the expenses of bringing back the students and workers of Odisha stranded in Ukraine. He directed that Development Commissioner-cum-Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Jena would coordinate the overall issue of bringing back citizens.
All district administrations have been instructed to collect information regarding students and workers in Ukraine and effectively coordinate with their family members.
He spoke to both Union Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S. Jayshankar and discussed about the safe return of the stranded Odia students and workers. They assured him of their safe evacuation, the CMO said in a statement.
Family members made frenzied calls for rescue of their near and dear ones from Ukraine. The family members of Srikant Mohapatra in Soro area of Balasore district, D. Sridhar of Gundupur in Rayagada and Kamal Rana of Khordha districts have been talking to their wards through video calls. They are worried that the mode of communication could be snapped at any moment. Students from almost all 30 districts are stranded in Ukraine.