Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced that the Odisha government will bear the expenses of bringing back students and workers from the state who are stranded in Ukraine.
Earlier, Naveen spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah over telephone, requesting him to take urgent steps to bring back students and workers from Odisha stuck in Ukraine.
The CM also directed Development Commissioner-cum-Special Relief Commissioner PK Jena to coordinate the task of bringing back people from Odisha in Ukraine. Besides, the Resident Commissioner in New Delhi will coordinate the efforts with the Centre.
Naveen also directed the district administrations to collect information on students and workers in Ukraine and coordinate with their family members.
More than 1,500 students from Odisha are caught in Ukraine’s war zones, desperately awaiting evacuation.
Mostly medical students at National Medical University in Kharkiv and Kyiv Medical University, many of them have moved into bomb shelters and safe zones since Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday.
The students had started making preparations to leave Ukraine after the West warned of an imminent attack by Russia and the Indian government asked its citizens to fly out a few days ago.
Most were hopeful of boarding flights in the first week of March. But Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights on Thursday, leaving them stranded.
Also read: https://odishabytes.com/watch-ukraine-parents-urge-govt-to-bring-back-stranded-odia-students/
