Bhubaneshwar: A batch of students from Odisha who were stuck in war-hit Ukraine, who reached here after being evacuated by the union government under Operation Ganga, recounted tales of the trying times faced by them. Students of different institutes of Ukraine arrived at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) on Wednesday.
The state government on Thursday nominated special representatives to coordinate safe evacuation of people from the state to India as many students are still stranded in Ukraine and in some border areas of that country.
All those who returned from Ukraine expressed relief to be back to their home state and many of them thanked the union government profusely for assisting them.
“It’s a huge relief to be back in Odisha. It was a really panicky situation and dangerous to live in Ukraine during the massive Russian attack. We would go inside the bunker immediately after the sirens rang. The bunker was very dark and food and water was not available inside it,” a student said. Stating that she and her friends had to stay inside the bunker for 48 hours without food and water, a woman medico said that there was no bed inside. "We sat on the dirty floor through the entire period and had to remain awake and alert". Rituparna Rout, a student of Kharkiv National Medical University said “I was desperate to be evacuated but nobody came forward to help, not even the embassy or the external affairs ministry. However, I and other students managed to come out of the situation.”
Another student on the other hand thanked the Indian embassy in Ukraine and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for making elaborate arrangements for their safe return. “We are grateful to Indian embassy and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for extending their help for our safe return from the war-torn country. They had taken care of our food requirements and all our journey expenses. Everything has been smooth and we are indebted,” said another student.
The guardian of one of those who retuned said the students were advised before-hand to return to their countries. "But they were not allowed to do so by their respective universities. The varsities thought that Russia would not declare a war at this juncture of the pandemic and the students should stay back,” the guardian, who was visibly relieved over his ward's safe return, said. Though a handful of students have so far been evacuated, the majority of them are still in difficult situation as the condition on the ground in Ukraine is tense and fraught with danger, the evacuated said.
There are deafening sound of sirens and gunshots on the streets of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second most important city and capital Kyiv and Odisha students who are still stuck in these cities are rushing to the safer borders to be evacuated, they said but could not say how many students are still in Ukraine. Some students who returned said they had to walk miles in freezing temperature to reach the Ukraine borders. Abinash Nayak, a medical student hailing from Puri said he walked 40 km on foot for six days without any food in the freezing cold to reach Poland, where he got in touch with the Indian authority and was rescued.
Nayak told a local TV news channel that he along with his other friends had rented a vehicle on February 24 to reach the Ukraine-Poland border as advised by the Indian embassy in Kyiv. But the vehicle was stopped 40 km from the border and the students had no option but to walk. He recounted that one of his friends had died in the long trek to the Polish border. Nayak and Roshan Kumar Behera of Kuchinda in Sambalpur district too expressed their relief at being able to return and thanked the central and state gvernments.
Odisha government Thursday nominated special representatives to coordinate safe evacuation of people from the state to India as many students are still stranded in Ukraine and in some border areas. Odisha Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra in an order said that representatives to different countries neighboring Ukraine will coordinate the state resident commissioner and the governments of where they are posted to ensure smooth evacuation of students and non-resident Odias from Ukraine, specially from its border locations.
The state government said that a number of students and people from Odisha have crossed over to Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia from where they were being evacuated by the MEA by special flights. Vikramaditya, the vice-president of KIIT and KISS universities has been deputed to coordinate for evacuation from Poland and look after overall coordination, while Arushi Ray of UNHCR has been assigned to coordinate for the safe passage of students who have reached Hungary.
Baishali Mohanty, UN policy officer in Rome, will look after evacuation from Romania and Anurag Pattnaik, who is based in Hungary, will coordiante in Slovakia. The state resident commissioner's office in New Delhi will be the nodal office for the purpose. The entire expense for the evacuation will be met out of CM’s Relief Fund, the order said.
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