Govt to send 26 evacuation flights in next 3 days to bring back stranded Indians

Systematic planning is being done to evacuate citizens and the ministry is working to multi-fold increase the number of daily flights to evacuate stranded Indians.

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Update: After today's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over evacuation flights, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has announced that over the next 3 days, 26 flights have been scheduled to bring out Indian citizens. Apart from Bucharest and Budapest, airports in Poland and Slovak Republic will also be used.

The top external affairs ministry officials briefed the committee members on February 28 about Operation Ganga launched by the government to rescue Indian nationals, including students, from Ukraine. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other external affairs ministry officials informed the panel that around 13 flights are expected to be operated in the next two to three days.

Systematic planning is being done to evacuate citizens and the ministry is working to multi-fold increase the number of daily flights to nine to evacuate stranded Indians, to around nine, according to sources. Shringla gave a detailed presentation to the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs on the situation in Ukraine following a Russian military offensive and India's efforts to evacuate its citizens, they said.

Russian-speaking officers from the ministry of external affairs have been sent to five neighboring countries- Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Moldova for evacuation of Indian nationals through land borders. Further, the officials have been sent to the border check-posts and Indian embassies to boost evacuation efforts.

The agenda of the parliamentary panel chaired by BJP leader P P Chaudhary was to deliberate on the ministry's Demand for Grants for the financial year 2022-23, but it took up the crisis in Ukraine following written notice of RSP MP NK Premchandran and request of other MPs.

Shringla told the committee that so far around 1,200 students had returned in five flights. Several thousand others had crossed the Ukrainian border or were in the process of doing so, the sources said.

The committee was also briefed on the measures being taken by the government to work with the International Committee of the Red Cross in ensuring the safety of Indian nationals in Ukraine, they said.

The Committee unanimously appreciated the measures being taken by the government for its Operation Ganga to bring Indian nationals, particularly students, back from Ukraine, the sources said.

Some panel members also enquired about India's position on the conflict at the international level and were informed that at the UN Security Council, India had asked for an immediate cessation of violence and hostilities.

India had also called for a return to diplomacy and dialogue and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, the sources added. Talking about stranded students, officials informed the panel that three advisories were issued, but the students were reluctant to leave as they did not want to miss their exams, the sources said. 

With inputs from PTI