Indian students standing outside Ukrainian embassy in Kyiv. (Screengrab) As the Union government shared a list of 1,786 students from Haryana studying in Ukraine, the state government Monday said that so far 91 among them have been brought back with the efforts of the central authorities. Apart from these students, a few others have returned back with their own efforts too, mainly before the war broke out on February 24.
On Sunday, the Manohar Lal Khattar government had said that it had received nearly 1,000 evacuation requests from state residents stuck in Ukraine.
After receiving Centre’s list on Monday, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar directed all the Deputy Commissioners to immediately constitute teams of officers to contact the families of these students in their respective districts.
The CM said that the officers designated by the Deputy Commissioners should contact the families on Monday itself.
A help desk, set up through the Department of Foreign Cooperation (FCD) in Haryana, has so far received over 400 phone calls, 800-900 WhatsApp messages and 800 e-mails.
A spokseperson said that Khattar himself was closely monitoring the situation and was constantly taking updates from the officials.
Meanwhile, a 19-year-old girl from Fatehabad’s Tibbi village, Shubham, reached her home on Sunday. Her father, Ramesh Dehru, told The Indian Express: “After completing her study of Class 12, Shubham had gone to Ukraine on December 14, 2021 for MBBS at the Bukovinian State Medical University there. We estimated a total expenditure of nearly Rs 35 lakh for the complete MBBS course there.”
Shubham said: “When we left Ukraine, the attacks were taking place in Kyiv. Missiles were also being fired. We did not sleep on the night of February 24 when the war actually broke out. We were supposed to stay in the basement of the hostel there because of security reasons. Meanwhile, we were informed that the evacuation process has been started. The Indian authorities arranged our evacuation from our institute to Delhi airport.”
The family brought her from Delhi airport to her home in Tibbi village.
While Shubnam was brought back by the government, Mayank Goyal from Haryana’s Jind left Ukraine a day before the war finally broke out on February 24. Mayank is a fifth year student of MBBS in Ternopil National Medical University there.
Goyal said: “Even before this crisis started, we had a team of 40 students to help the Indian students there. When the war started, we converted this team as a rescue group as no help was being extended from the embassy. In Kyiv, the students have been kept in a school. They don’t have food there. Our team arranged 7-8 buses for the students to take them to the Poland border by charging just 1,500-2,000 per student. Our team has already rescued 240 students. We took help from NGOs and the students of Poland who were studying with us in Ukraine.”
According to Goyal, now the volunteers who were helping in the evacuation of Indian students were being attacked.
“We have come to know that the buses arranged by Indian authorities have reached the Poland border Monday to help the students there,” he added.
An official of Haryana government said that they have taken up the matter with the Union Ministry of External Affairs after reports of alleged harassment of Indian citizens surfaced on social media.
The Chief Minister, meanwhile, assured all the citizens stranded in Ukraine that they should not panic and they would certainly be brought back to India.
Khattar said: “It may take some time in view of the prevailing situation, but the government is committed to the safe return of its citizens. State government is working day and night for the return of all the students.”
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