CHENNAI: Of the 1,921 students from Tamil Nadu who were studying medicine in Ukraine, 1,890 have returned home safely. The last set of nine students arrived at Chennai airport on Saturday morning. Of the 1,890 students, 1,524 were brought to Tamil Nadu through the state government's efforts while 366 returned on their own. Apart from this, 31 students have taken shelter in safer places in Ukraine and nearby countries and hence, they did not express their willingness to return to Tamil Nadu.
Following the return of the last set of students, Chief Minister MK Stalin thanked External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for evacuating them safely. The Chief Minister spoke to the Union Minister in this regard over the telephone. The Chief Minister received the last set of nine students from Ukraine at the Chennai airport along with the 10-member special team formed to facilitate the safe evacuation of students from Ukraine.
The Chief Minister presented bouquets to the students and interacted with them for a few minutes. He also presented shawls to the members of the special team led by Trichy N Siva, MP. Profusely thanking the Chief Minister for the help extended by the Tamil Nadu government, the students said the officials from Tamil Nadu were in constant touch with them since the start of the war in Ukraine and that was useful to them very much.
An official release said 1,524 students reached their native places in Tamil Nadu on government expenditure. However, it is not clear whether the state government bore the cost of their journey from New Delhi to Chennai or the entire cost of the journey from Ukraine. The release said the expenditure for transporting 35 students in Ukraine to Hungary and the cost incurred for the transport of 160 students in reaching the border of Ukraine-Romania and later to Bucharest were fully borne by the Tamil Nadu government.
Immediately after the Russia-Ukraine war started, the state government appointed a state nodal officer for facilitating the safe evacuation of Tamil students in Ukraine and a special team was formed for this purpose. This team stayed in New Delhi and was in constant touch with the External Affairs Ministry and expedited the arrangements for the safe evacuation of students from Tamil Nadu. The state government allocated Rs 3.50 crore for bringing back Tamil students from Ukraine.