50 of over 230 students from NE in Ukraine back home
Darpan News Desk IANS, 02 Mar, 2022 05:30 PM
Guwahati/Shillong, March 2 (IANS) Around 50 students out of over 230 students of three northeastern states - Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya, who were stranded in war-torn Ukraine, have returned to India so far, ministers and officials said on Wednesday.
Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua has directed the district administrations to reach out to parents of students stranded in Ukraine.
An official in Guwahati said that the Assam government so far prepared a list of 160 such students and the process of evacuating them has been going on in coordination with the External Affairs Ministry.
He said that four more students from Assam arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday, taking the total number of returnees from Ukraine to 32.
Thanking the Prime Minister's Office and the MEA, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, in a tweet, said that 12 students from his state studying in Ukraine have reached India safely, six are on way to Delhi and nine are enroute to the border.
Another Eleven students have reached safely in neighbouring countries and will be flown back to India soon, the Chief Minister said.
Tripura Chief Secretary Kumar Alok said that District Magistrates and Sub-Divisional Magistrates in all the districts have physically contacted family members of 33 students who are studying in Ukraine. He said that five students have reached India and 24 have crossed the Ukraine border and are on their way to India while four are still in Ukraine but they remained safe.
The Centre is making all arrangements for them, he added.
The state governments of most of the northeastern states are in constant touch with the MEA to safely evacuate the stranded students and other citizens of these states in Ukraine.
The government is trying to bring back Indians stranded in war-torn Ukraine by asking them to cross into neighbouring countries from where they are flown back by special aircraft to the country.
Upping the ante against the Modi government over the Pegasus phone tapping issue, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said that the alleged snooping on the phones of Chief Ministers, politicians, judges and people violates multiple laws of the country and is a threat to national security.
Claiming that Amnesty International is directly involved in the Pegasus "international conspiracy" to malign the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday demanded that the Central government ban the activities of the organisation in India.
Toughening his stance, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday clarified that he won't meet new state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu till he publicly apologises to him.
Delhi's iconic Red Fort will be shut for the public from July 21 till Independence Day celebrations on August 15 are over, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said on Tuesday.
Taking part in a discussion in the Upper House, Puri said, "I have got an impression that the one realisation which has escaped many is that the enemy here is the virus, not the government, or the Chief Ministers, or the system. It is the virus which is the real enemy."
