200 Students and Indian Nationals from Ukraine arrive in Delhi as part of “Operation Ganga”

Bhagwanth Khuba, MOS (Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers) welcomed the evacuees
Assured them the Government of India is committed to repatriation of all Indians from Ukraine
03 MAR 2022 12:07PM – PIB DELHI

Around 200 students and Indian citizens from Ukraine have been evacuated from Ukraines and brought back to India as part of Government of India’s Operation Ganga.

Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers received the evacuees, most of them students, at Indira Gandhi International airport. The special Indigo  flight landed at Delhi today morning.

Welcoming all the returnees, the Union Minister said the Union Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to ensuring repatriation of  all Indians from Ukraine. He assured the students that their friends and colleagues will also be evacuated soon.

Coming back to India and meeting with families, students expressed gratitude towards the Union Government. A young student on the flight remarked, with tears of joy, the safe evacuation from a war strife country is no miracle, and Prime Minister  Narendra Modi made it possible.

Indigo flight had taken off from the Istanbul International Airport, at 10.35 p.m. (IST) on Wednesday and reached New Delhi at 8.31a.m. today.

Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and SpiceJet have joined the Operation Ganga mission operating multiple flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries to Delhi and Mumbai.

India has mounted a massive rescue operation named ‘Operation Ganga’ to bring back Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine. Ministry of External Affairs, in close coordination with Ministry of Civil Aviation, is making all efforts to bring the Indian students back to India in fast pace. Indian Airlines are putting their resources in faster evacuation process. Four Union Ministers- Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Shri Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Shri Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) V.K. Singh have gone to countries adjoining Ukraine to support and supervise these operations. Indian Civilian planes as well as Indian Air Force planes are regularly bringing back stranded Indian students.

The evacuation process, which began on 22^nd February, has brought back over 6200 persons so far, including 2185 persons coming today through 10 special civilian flights. Today’s flights included 5 from Bucharest, 2 from Budapest, 1 from Kosice, and 2 from Rzeszow by Civilian airlines. In addition, 3 IAF flights are bringing more Indians today between 11 pm on March 3 and early morning of March 4. Four IAF flights have already brought 798 Indian nationals between midnight of March 2 and early morning of March 3. The number of civilian flights is be scaled up further, and more than 7400 persons are expected to be brought through special flights in next two days. 3500 persons are expected to be brought back tomorrow and over 3900 on 5^th March.

The tentative schedule of special flights for tomorrow is as below:

Total Number of flights: 17