160 Uttarakhand students evacuated from Ukraine, says CM Dhami

A total of 160 Uttarakhand students have been evacuated from Ukraine under 'Operation Ganga' amid the ongoing Russian military operations, said Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami after interacting with Indian nationals in Delhi on Saturday.

He also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the safe evacuation of Indians from Ukraine.

Speaking to ANI, Dhami said, "A total of 160 Uttarakhand students have been safely evacuated from Ukraine. We thank PM Modi for starting Operation Ganga to rescue the students from the country amidst the military operations. It is our responsibility to bring back the rest of the students from Ukraine."

"The Ministry of External Affairs and our local commissioner's office are constantly working on the evacuation process. Even, the Union Ministers have been given the responsibility to bring them back to India and I am in constant touch with them," the chief minister said.

Earlier in the day, Dhami also met Indian students who were evacuated from Ukraine amid ongoing Russian military operations, at Uttarakhand Sadan in Delhi and enquired about their well-being.

"Today met with the children who returned from Ukraine at Uttarakhand Sadan in Delhi. It was possible only with the efficient leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and the efforts of the Government of India that today our children have returned safely even from adverse situations like war," Dhami tweeted (roughly translated from Hindi).

The Uttarakhand government has appointed a nodal officer for students of the state returning from Ukraine and a toll-free number has been also launched, where people can give information about students stuck in Ukraine.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan also informed today that over 11,000 Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine so far.

Meanwhile, the Union Government has been ramping up its efforts to evacuate Indian nationals from Ukraine.

The government has deployed 'special envoys' to four neighbouring countries bordering Ukraine to coordinate and oversee the evacuation process of Indian nationals.Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri is overseeing evacuation efforts in Hungary, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in Slovakia, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Romania and Gen VK Singh in Poland.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also chaired several meetings on the evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine. In the meeting, he chaired on Friday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and other senior officials were present

( With inputs from ANI )

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