SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday told the state Assembly that 130 state residents are stuck in Ukraine and 32 of them are being brought back to India on two chartered flights.
In a statement in the House, Thakur said a Government of India chartered flight will reach Delhi from Bucharest on Saturday at 7 pm. This flight will bring back several Indians, including 15 Himachal Pradesh residents, stuck in Ukraine, he said.
Another flight will reach Mumbai from Bucharest on Sunday at 2 am, which will bring back several Indians, including 17 state residents, he added. The CM told the Assembly that a direct flight from Ukraine is not possible as the airspace there has been closed for civilian flights.
Amid Russian military operations in Ukraine, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has established four locations in Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Romania for evacuation of Indian citizens, he added.
Indians stuck in Ukraine will be brought by road to these four locations and the MEA is trying to evacuate them to India through chartered flights, he added. A Helpline has been set up in Ukraine and New Delhi in this regard, he added.
The MEA sent its chartered Air India planes to evacuate Indians and the cost will be completely borne by the government for this evacuation, he added. The Himachal Pradesh government will bear the cost for sending the state residents to their homes from the Delhi airport, he said, adding that Himachal Bhawan-based the resident commissioner office will make arrangements for their RT-PCR test after reaching the Delhi airport.
They will be sent back home on Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) and Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) buses, the CM said.
"I want to assure through the House the families of those HP residents stuck in Ukraine that the state government is with them in the hour of crisis," he added.
The CM said as per initial information, about 130 state residents are stuck in Ukraine but this figure may go up. The CM said he has written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, whereas the state chief secretary talked to the foreign secretary on Saturday morning in this regard.