By PTI
PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said his government will bear the travel expenses of people from the state, who are expected to land on the Indian soil on Saturday upon rescue from war-ravaged Ukraine.
An announcement to the effect was made by Kumar late Friday night when he thanked the Centre for arranging special flights to bring back those stranded in the restive country.
The CM said he has learnt that one such flight each will be landing in Delhi and Mumbai and the state government will bear expenses of onward travel of those hailing from Bihar.
Tales of harried parents eagerly awaiting their wards’ return from Ukraine are pouring in from all parts of the state.
“My two children are studying medicine in separate towns of Ukraine. So far both are safe. But the situation is grim,” said Sumitra Kumari Yadav, a resident of Kesariya in East Champaran district.
Yadav, who is also a local Congress leader, said, “My son is a third-year student in Kharkiv. He has gone to live in bunkers, as advised by the local government.”
“But my daughter, who is in the fourth year, is staying at her hostel in Odessa. She has told me it was a joint decision by all Indian female students of her college, who were wary of going inside bunkers”, said Yadav.
She, however, added that “my son says his college has been bombed. My daughter suggests that being a woman it is doubly unsafe for her. I just hope they are brought back at the earliest”.
Similar is the plight of Ashok Kumar who resides and runs a jewellery business in Chakia area of East Champaran.
“My son Kunj Bihari is trapped in Lviv. I have learnt that he is returning. The journey is gruelling, but a big relief, nonetheless,” he said.
Kumar also stated that his son will be airlifted from Warsaw by a special aircraft sent by the Indian government.
“But the biggest challenge for him and other students will be the exit from Ukraine. The Polish border is several kilometres away and they have to cover the distance on foot. I just hope it all turns out fine”, he added.
The Jharkhand government on Friday set up a control room to help families of the students and workers stuck in crisis-hit Ukraine in the administration’s effort to bring them back home.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren asked all affected families to provide information about their loved ones in Ukraine to the control room.
The state government has come out with a list of six landlines and five mobile numbers of the facility.
“I appeal to citizens and family members of all students and those who have gone to Ukraine for employment to contact the control room numbers to provide their information. All possible help will be provided to them by the Jharkhand government in collaboration with the Centre,” Soren said in a tweet.
According to information received from different districts, around 100 students from Jharkhand are now stuck in Ukraine.
While the control room mobile numbers are, 9470132591, 9431336427, 9431336398, 9431336472 and 9431336432 the landline numbers are 2481055, 2480058, 2480083, 2482052, 2481037 and 2481188.
Update from other states
In a tweet, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said it will make arrangements to ferry the students to the state from Mumbai or Delhi.
“CM Shri @Bhupendrapbjp has thanked PM Shri @narendramodi for all the arrangements made for the repatriation of about 100 young students from Gujarat stranded in the war-torn areas of Ukraine,” the Gujarat CMO tweeted.
“The State Govt has made arrangements to bring the students back to Gujarat who will arrive in India tomorrow. Special responsibility has been assigned to the Resident Commissioner and Commissioner of Geology & Mining Dept for the students coming to Delhi and Mumbai respectively,” the CMO said in another tweet.
Earlier in the day, state education minister Jitu Vaghani had said around 2,500 Gujarat students were stranded in Ukraine which has been invaded by Russia.
Some students from Maharashtra’s Marathwada region who are stranded in Ukraine are trying to reach the borders of surrounding countries such as Poland in a bid to return to India, their parents said on Friday.
While over 1,200 students from Maharashtra are currently in Ukraine which has been invaded by Russia, the administration here has got the details of 91 students belonging to the Marathwada region.
Swapnil Ghuge from Jalna, who is pursuing MBBS at Vinnytsia Ukraine National Medical College, is among them.
Speaking to PTI, his father Jagdev Ghuge said, “I am in touch with my son. There were plans to bring Indian students back through Romania. But the borders were shut, so they had to return to their college which was around 900 km away.”
“When air raid sirens go off, he and others are asked to move to a safer place. There is no threat to them as of today, but we are worried. We want our children back home safe,” Ghuge added.
Bhumika, a medical student at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, belongs to Aurangabad.
Her father Rohidas told PTI that the students were asked to move into a nearby bunker on Friday.
“The students are now moving towards Poland by any means they get. Bhumika got a cab and set off for the border due to the fear of attacks (by the invading Russian army). She is 25 km away from the border and is now walking, because there is a traffic jam. She has got some water and biscuits with her, she told us,” he said.
To save her mobile phone’s battery, she was only using text messages to communicate with them, he added.
The ATMs in many parts of Ukraine have run out of cash and grocery stores are empty, Rohidas said.
Suyog Dhanvay and Sanket Ukharde, who hail from Tembhurni in Jalna district, are also studying medicine in Ukraine.
Suyog’s father said though the Indian embassy was helping the stranded students, the families were worried.
“They will be brought back home through neighboring countries. I paid extra money and purchased return tickets for Suyog, but due to some documentation hassle he couldn’t fly back in time,” he said.
Dinkar Ukharde, Sanket’s father, said, “We are expecting swift response from the Indian government. They are safe now, but they should be brought back home.”
District-wise figures of students from the central Maharashtra’s Marathwada region who are stuck in Ukraine are as follows: Aurangabad (7), Jalna (7), Parbhani (6), Hingoli (1), Nanded (29), Beed (1), Latur (28), Osmanabad (12).
The kin of 122 students from Madhya Pradesh stranded amid war in Ukraine have so far contacted the chief minister’s helpline here, an official said on Friday.
The official said, on condition of anonymity, that most of these students are in Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, which is the second largest city in that country, and have been given refuge in metro stations and other safe spots.
These students are unable to move towards the Hungary border, some 1,200 kilometres away, for a land rescue effort due to the relentless shelling by Russian forces, while making it to the Poland border was tough due to lack of buses on the route, he added.
“There may be 250 students from MP in Ukraine. The kin and guardians of 122 students have contacted the chief minister’s helpline so far. We are coordinating, and the Indian Embassy there is making all out efforts to help these students,” the official told PTI.
He added that Indian students mostly prefer to pursue education in Moscow in Russia, with just a handful in Ukraine, where courses are cheaper, he said.
The exact number of students from MP and India as a whole can be provided by the Immigration Bureau of Ukraine, the official added.
The parents of some these students said ATMs in that country had begun to go dry, while provisions were also in short supply due to bulk and panic buying.
