Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday, after meeting the students who returned from Ukraine amid crisis, said he is in touch with the Union Ministers who have been sent to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation of Indians, and added that bringing back the remaining ones is a "priority".
CM Dhami held a meeting with the residents of the state who returned today at Uttarakhand Sadan in Delhi.
Speaking to ANI, the Chief Minister said, "The Union Ministers have been given the responsibility of bringing all the students who are stranded in various places back to the country. I along with my officials are in contact with those Ministers and the Foreign Ministry."
"I am meeting with the students who are returning to the country. I have met all of them who have come in the past two to three days. I have spoken to them on phones and also to their guardians. We are making efforts to bring all of them back safely," Dhami added.
The Chief Minister further informed that as per the registered data in the state, nearly 287 residents have gone to Ukraine, out of which 160 have returned so far.
"160 students have returned so far. We thank PM Modi for starting Operation Ganga under which 160 students have returned and more students continue to return. The effort for the same is on to bring back all our remaining students. We have 287 registered students who are there in total. Bringing them back is our priority. For that the Ministry of External Affairs, our local commissioner's office, we are continuously coordinating," he said.
Meanwhile, 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.
Notably, the Indian Air Force on Saturday brought back 629 evacuated Indian nationals from Ukraine's neighbouring countries Romania, Slovakia and Poland as part of the ongoing 'Operation Ganga'.
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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