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Ludhiana man earns praise for helping students stuck in Ukraine
At a time when majority of the overseas education providers dealing with admission and accommodation of medical students have gone incommunicado, one such facilitator from Ludhiana has decided to stay at Kharkiv city of war-hit Ukraine and has been providing food and other essential supplies to students who are currently taking shelter at metro stations and bunkers
At a time when majority of the overseas education providers dealing with admission and accommodation of medical students have gone incommunicado, one such facilitator from Ludhiana has decided to stay at Kharkiv city of war-hit Ukraine and has been providing food and other essential supplies to students who are currently taking shelter at metro stations and bunkers.
Dr Karanpal Singh Sandhu is being appreciated by students and their parents for his humanitarian effort.
Videos of Karanpal helping students at a metro stations and bunkers are also being widely circulated.
Simranpeet Singh, a fourth semester student, said what Karanpal has done was exemplary.
“While many agents have fled, Karanpal decided to stay in Ukraine. Ever since the war started, Karanpal, who speaks Russian fluently, had been delivering food to students in a bunker,” said Kaushika, a sixth-semester student, who left Kharkiv for Lviv on a train on Tuesday.
Karanpal’s father Dr Tejpal Singh Sandhu said he had a word with his son recently. “He was upset over the death of an Indian student in missile attack. Karan told me that there was a lot of panic among students following the death of Navin, a student of Karnataka. Many students have caught a train to Lviv, which is located on the western part of Ukraine, nearly 1,200km away from Kharkiv, without informing the Indian embassy. These students would be needing food and shelter soon,” he added.
‘Evacuate students via Russia’
Karanpal said evacuating so many students from Poland and Romania will be tough.
“The easiest way for us to get out of Ukraine is through Belgorod International Airport in Russia, which is around 100km from Kharkiv. The roads are well-connected and we can reach there within an hour,” he said.
“We are not at war with Russia. Instead, Russia is our strong ally. I have reached out to Union minister Hardeep Puri and Punjab government officials. I have urged them if the students could be provided a safe corridor to Russia and from there they could be easily airlifted to India,” he added.