Operation Ganga: Indian Air Force to join evacuation process of Indian nationals from Ukraine

Indian nationals, evacuated from crisis-hit Ukraine, upon their arrival at the airport in Mumbai. (PTI)Premium
Indian nationals, evacuated from crisis-hit Ukraine, upon their arrival at the airport in Mumbai. (PTI)
2 min read . Updated: 01 Mar 2022, 12:17 PM IST Livemint

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In order to scale up the ongoing evacuation efforts from Ukraine under Operation Ganga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for the Indian Air Force to join the evacuation efforts according to the news agency ANI. 

“This will ensure that more people can be evacuated in a shorter time frame. It will also help deliver humanitarian aid more efficiently. Indian Air Force is likely to deploy several C-17 aircraft as part of Operation Ganga from today,"  the sources added.

The sources said that leveraging the capacities of the Air Force will ensure that more people can be evacuated in a shorter time frame. It will also help to deliver humanitarian aid more efficiently, sources added. Indian Air Force is likely to deploy several C-17 aircrafts as part of 'Operation Ganga' from today.

Meanwhile, the ninth flight carrying 218 stranded Indian nationals has departed from the Romanian capital Bucharest for New Delhi under Operation Ganga, informed External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday.

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Till now, only private Indian carriers were evacuating Indians from Romania and Hungary, countries with land borders with Ukraine on the western side, as the Ukrainian airspace had been shut since February 24.

India began evacuation of around 14,000 of its stranded citizens on February 26.

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said, "We will not rest till our fellow Indians are safe. Ninth Operation Ganga flight departs Bucharest for New Delhi with 218 Indian nationals."

Earlier late on Monday night, another flight from Bucharest with 182 Indian nationals departed for Mumbai.

Meanwhile, at the high-level meeting on Monday evening over the Ukraine crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the entire government machinery is working round the clock to ensure that all Indians there are safe and secure, informed Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

This was the second high-level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister during the day over the prevailing situation in Ukraine. Government sources on Monday said that the 'Special Envoys' including Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) VK Singh will travel to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate evacuations of stranded Indians amid ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine.

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