Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, and General (Retired) VK Singh will be travelling to Ukraine's neighbouring countries as 'special envoys' in order to oversee evacuation of Indians from the war-ridden nation.
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia will be overseeing evacuation operations of Indians in Romania and Moldova, while Minister of Law Kiren Rijiju will be visiting Slovakia, reported news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri will be overlooking operations in Hungary, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport Gen (Retd) VK Singh will manage evacuations in Poland.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, 28 February, news agency ANI reported.
Around 16,000 Indians are stranded in Ukraine, most of whom are students of medicine who are studying in the country.
Efforts to evacuate the students are underway, under Operation Ganga by the Government of India. Indian students in Ukraine have been asked to travel to the borders of the neighbouring Poland, Romania, and Hungary, from where they are being conveyed to India by air.
An Air India flight had conveyed 219 students stranded in Ukraine to Mumbai on Saturday. Another flight from Bucharest had carried 250 Indian nationals, including many students, to Delhi on Sunday. Five such flights have operated so far.
Videos circulated on social media indicated that a number of Indian students attempting to escape war-ridden Ukraine were stopped, harassed, and beaten by guards at the country's border while they were fleeing.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, sharing one such video, appealed to the government to share their evacuation plan with those stranded.
"My heart goes out to the Indian students suffering such violence and their family watching these videos. No parent should go through this. GOI must urgently share the detailed evacuation plan with those stranded as well as their families. We can’t abandon our own people," he tweeted.
Round-the-clock helplines for Indians in Ukraine:
+38 0997300428
+38 0997300483
+38 0933980327
+38 0635917881
+38 0935046170
(With inputs from ANI.)
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