Ukraine crisis: Over 7K Indians to be evacuated in next 2 days, says Centre
Darpan News Desk IANS, 03 Mar, 2022 01:10 PM
New Delhi, March 3 (IANS) Over 7,400 Indian nationals are expected to be evacuated under the 'Operation Ganga' in the next two days, the government said on Thursday.
The Centre has initiated an airlift operation to evacuate Indians, who have found their way to the neighbouring countries of war-torn Ukraine. It has deployed a number of special charter as well as Indian Air Force flights to ferry back the citizens.
On Friday, 3,500 are expected to be brought back, while over 3,900 will be ferried back on Saturday.
As per a Ministry of Civil Aviation statement, a total of 17 flights are expected to land in India -- 15 in New Delhi and 2 in Mumbai -- on Friday.So far, the Centre has brought back over 6,200 citizens, including the 2,185 coming on Thursday alone through 10 special civilian flights, since the evacuation process began on February 22.
On Wednesday, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that over 4,000 Indian students will be evacuated from Romania in the next three days.
Scindia is one of the four Union Ministers, along with Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju and Gen V.K. Singh (retd), who have gone to countries adjoining Ukraine to support and supervise the ongoing evacuation operations.
Similarly, six flights each will be operated on Thursday and Friday.
Furthermore, he said that flights will also be operated from Suceava, Romania.
According to an estimate, a total of 18,000 students are stranded in war-torn Ukraine. However, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday said that so far, 12,000 Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine, which is 60 per cent of the country's total population in the war-ravaged nation.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday junked petitions against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order, which upheld the appointment of Dinkar Gupta as Punjab Director General of Police.
Punjab has always stood against external intrusions and hence must be considered as a security case, not just as an economic case at the time of budgetary allocation, state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said here on Tuesday. Badal made the demand during a virtual discussion with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on stepping up investment, infrastructure and growth in the country.
After a lacklustre outing in the 2017 Assembly polls, Kejriwal's AAP has rejuvenated its efforts to make a political dent in Goa for the upcoming 2022 state Assembly polls.
Addressing the gathering during a function to mark the death anniversary of former Punjab minister and Congress leader Santokh Singh Randhawa here, the Chief Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for re-opening the Kartarpur corridor ahead of Prakash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev.
In a three page letter written on November 8, Tewari said, "I am requesting Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to kindly ensure 50 per cent reservation granted to Mazhabi Sikhs & Balmikis out of 22.5 per cent way back in 1975, is upheld when matter comes up before a 7 or 9-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court when constituted shortly."
The Supreme Court on Monday sought an action plan within 24 hours from the Centre and state governments, detailing steps taken by task forces to stop air pollution caused by vehicular traffic, construction work, stubble burning, power plants, entry of heavy vehicles, dust, etc.
