The Union government as well as states have geared up to take Indians returning from Ukraine on Saturday night to their home locations.
Since the Ukrainian airspace has been closed following an invasion by Russia, the Indians stranded in that country have been asked to move to neighbouring Romania and Hungary from where they will be airlifted by chartered Air India flights.
About 18,000 Indian students are stuck in Ukraine. They are stranded as Russia’s invasion of the east European country entered its third day on Saturday. Many of the students are studying medicine in Kharkiv and Kyiv. About 2,500 of them are from Gujarat and 2,320 from Kerala.
As per information provided by the Civil Aviation Ministry, Air India flights will evacuate Indians from Bucharest in Romania and Budapest in Hungary. The flight from Bucharest is expected to arrive in Mumbai around 8 pm and in Delhi around 10 pm.
Concessions provided by Union government
Non-vaccinated Indians arriving by these flights in Delhi have been exempted from uploading documents on Air Suvidha portal before departure, thus giving them permission to enter Indian airports. The concession has been offered in view of the crisis prevailing in Ukraine.
The Mumbai Airport, however, will test arriving passengers without a vaccine certificate or a negative RT-PCR report. Any passenger arriving from Ukraine who tests positive shall be clinically managed as per the protocols laid down by the government.
What are states doing?
In addition to concessions and arrangements made by the Government of India, states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu too have made arrangements for the arrival of these evacuees because a majority of them belong to the two states.
The Kerala government will provide air tickets to students returning to Kerala via Delhi and Mumbai on flights from Ukraine. Even after reaching Kerala, the respective district collectors have been told to make adequate arrangements to make sure the evacuees reach home safe and sound. Notably, about 2,320 students returning from Ukraine belong to Kerala.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin too has promised to pay for travel expenses incurred by the approximately 5,000 students and diaspora stranded in Ukraine.
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As tensions escalated in Ukraine and worried families back in India counted the hours till their children returned home, several state governments requested the Centre to make immediate arrangements for their safe evacuation.
“Government of India is making all possible efforts to bring our students back from Ukraine. We appeal to our students to follow all advisories and guidelines being issued by the MEA and the Indian embassy,” the MoE said in a tweet.