Shelly (2nd from left), with her family in Chandigarh, after returning from Ukraine on Thursday. (Express ) THREE PEOPLE including two MBBS students and a man were evacuated and reached their homes from war-torn Ukraine through the Mission Ganga of the Indian Government on Thursday. Shelly of Sector 20 and Saurabh of Sunny Enclave in Kharar are 4th year MBBS students. Shubham of Sector 35 was working in Ukraine. “I had gone to Ukraine after spending at least one month in Chandigarh with my family on January 27. Things started becoming tense after a few weeks. In the beginning of February, threats and uncertainty started looming. I booked a return ticket for India for February 24. But as we reached Kyiv, bombing started at the airport. We abandoned the idea. It was also not advisable to return to our institute. We spent at least four days at Kyiv. Then we left in a train towards Lviv. At Lviv we hired a cab towards Hungary. Initially, we had decided to adopt the route for Poland. But multiple reports of maltreatment came from there. At Hungary border, we interacted with Indian embassy people. Further, we were flown to India from Budapest airport. We were not charged any money for air travel from Hungary to India,” Shelly told the media.
Her parents, Darshan Singh and Sangeeta Devi, were emotional. Darshan Singh, who has been serving in Punjab police, said, “We have been not slept for many days. I do pray to God that everyone is evacuated from war-torn Ukraine.” Shelly is the elder daughter of her parents. She has one younger brother.
More students are expected to return from Ukraine in coming days. Monika Mehta, mother of Nikita Mehta, said, “Nikita told us that she along with others entered Hungary. She will reach India in the coming 48 or 72 hours. Many other students from Chandigarh and some parts of Punjab are with her.”
Ambala: Students return home, Vij welcomes with sweets
Ishiqa Bhutani, an MBBS student from Ambala has safely returned home after being stranded in Ukraine for several days. Ishiqa, who is from Katcha Bazaar Ambala Cantonment, was received by Home Minister, Anil Vij. Vij was waiting for Ishiqa with a box of sweets, and after the welcome ceremony, he discusses various steps that the government was taking to evacuate Indian students from Ukraine.
Vij disclosed that apart from commercial airlines, the air force has also been tasked to evacuate citizens from Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czech and Slovakia. The home minister said that he had written a letter to the External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishanker for the safe evacuation of the students and citizens from the state. He said that the EA Ministry had told him that helpdesks have been set up on the borders of Romania, Poland, Hungary and other countries.
Vinay Bhutani, Ishiqa’s father, expressed his gratitude to Vij for playing an active role in bringing his daughter back home. Another MBBS student, Neha Rani, has returned from Ukraine. Neha is a student of Kharkeive National Medical University and is the daughter of Ram Pujan, an FCI official. While speaking about her time during the bombing, Neha said that she had to pass several nights in the bunkers without meals. She reached the border by boarding bus and train from where she was were evacuated by Indian Airlines.
DC Vikram Singh said that there are 76 students in Ukraine who are from Ambala. He said that he had directed all the officers including to stay in contact with the families. He said that his office would remain open from 1 to 7 pm to help anyone needing assistance.
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