Ukraine crisis: 5,000 Indian students to return from Romania by Friday, says Scindia

As part of its efforts to evacuate Indian students stranded in the war-hit zone, the Centre on Monday decided that for Union ministers, including Scindia, will travel to Ukraine’s neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission and help bring back students.

Around 5,000 students will be evacuated from Romania and Moldova in the next two days amid the crisis in Ukraine, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday.

Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia interacts with students awaiting their flights for India at the Bucharest Airport under Operation Ganga, amid the Ukraine crisis, on Wednesday. (ANI)

“The students have gone through a lot of trouble… In this mission, we aim to send back home Indians stranded due to the Ukraine-Russia tensions,” Scindia, who arrived in Romania early on Wednesday, said at a virtual press conference. Approximately 8,000 Indians, mainly students, are stranded in Ukraine, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Tuesday.

As part of its efforts to evacuate Indian students stranded in the war-hit zone, the Centre on Monday decided that Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and VK Singh will travel to Ukraine’s neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission and help bring back students.

Scindia has been asked to take care of the evacuation efforts from Romania and Moldova.

“The (evacuation) plan is divided into four parts – bring students to the borders, help them in crossing them, bring them to the site of embarkation for airports and finally evacuate them safely to India,” the Union minister said.

Scindia also conducted a logistics meeting after meeting stranded students at the airport.

“I met with the ambassador in the embassy for an hour, planning the operational logistics today. Today, six flights left from Bucharest to India,” he said.

“We have 3,000 students in Bucharest and 1,000 students at the border in Syrette. Roughly, 220 students per flight (around 1,300 students) flew back to India today,” he added.

The minister said he met Romania Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and thanked him for facilitating the safe evacuation of Indians amid heightened tensions in Ukraine.

“We also met Romania’s Prime Minister and thanked him for his help… I thank everybody who is making all kinds of the arrangements for our students,” he said.

Scindia said the government is also setting up a call centre to be able to give a unique code for every student until his or her transfer back to India.

Arrangements are also being made to provide medical facilities to students. The Centre on Tuesday confirmed that an Indian student, from Karnataka, was the first casualty in the ongoing military offensive in the eastern European country.