Summary
Offer to reimburse airfare for return home
Helplines set up for stranded students and their families
Indian students in the Ukraine, where a full-scale Russian invasion is on, have started returning home.
The governments of several Indian states, including Jharkhand, Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, have helped facilitate the evacuation of stranded Indian students with helplines and travel reimbursements.
Jharkhand
Chief minister Hemant Soren has announced that the Jharkhand government will reimburse the airfare of the more than 100 students from the state stuck in Ukraine.
The Jharkhand government has set up a control room to help families of the students and workers stuck in Ukraine as part of an effort to bring them home.
The Jharkhand government, along with the Central government, is working to provide all possible help to the people of the state, chief minister Soren said in a tweet.
Kerala
The Kerala government will bear the cost of flight tickets for the students arriving in Delhi and Mumbai on evacuation flights arranged by the Union government from Ukraine, which is under attack from Russian forces.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said steps have been taken by the state government to collect the details of all Malayalis reaching the country from Ukraine.
The Kerala resident commissioner in Delhi and NORKA officials will ensure facilities for the smooth travel of students to the state from airports of Delhi and Mumbai, Vijayan said in a Facebook post.
"The state government will provide flight tickets to Kerala for students arriving at Delhi and Mumbai airports on evacuation flights from Ukraine arranged by the Union government. The district collectors have been directed to receive the students arriving at the airports in Kerala and to arrange the necessary facilities," Vijayan said.
The state government had earlier sought the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs to ensure the safety of 2,320 students from Kerala studying in Ukraine.
West Bengal
The state government has set up a dedicated control room at its Nabanna headquarters to help students and people from Bengal stranded in Ukraine.
“So far, request for 199 persons from West Bengal, stranded at Ukraine sent to Ministry of External Affairs, GOI requesting their early safe return. Resident Commissioner Office, West Bengal at New Delhi is coordinating,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote in a tweet.
It was reported that a few students will land in Mumbai and Delhi shortly.
Tamil Nadu
Approximately 5,000 students undergoing professional courses and emigrants from Tamil Nadu are stranded in Ukraine.
Chief minister M.K, Stalin has urged Union external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to operate special Vande Bharat mission flights to evacuate the stranded Tamil Nadu students.
He has also announced that the state government will bear all the travel expenses of these individuals for their safe return home. The chief minister spoke to three students from the state over a video call and assured them of help.
Last updated on 28 Feb 2022
