HYDERABAD: As war clouds gather over Ukraine, students from Telangana studying in the embattled country wait for some word from the State government.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine (now closed), has been sending advisories to students advising them to leave the country for the time being. However, there seems to be no support from the State government.
According to Telangana NRI Cell in charge Chittibabu, the Ministry for External Affairs has been communicating with the Indian Embassy in Ukraine and that three Air India flights were being operated to ferry the students back home.
Chittibabu, however, said that the situation was not that serious in Ukraine and that was the reason no student has approached the NRI Cell yet. He added that there was no data available about how many among the 20,000 Indian students studying in Ukraine are from Telangana.
His observation was also echoed by Professor J Shankaraswamy, who participated in a global conference held this week virtually from the National University of Food Technology at Kyiv. The conference was attended by professors and domain experts from various countries on Tuesday.
“Though there is the threat of invasion, everything in Kyiv is normal as of now. Students are attending classes and the routine has not been affected,” he told Express.
Sandeep Makthala, President of Telangana IT Association, informed Express that he hasn’t received any serious alerts from the local chapter of TITA from Russia about the students facing any serious threat there.
Though many of the students are still in Ukraine, some of them have started arriving home. Students have been worried that the wait time for booking tickets was at least one week and that one-way tickets range anywhere between Rs 35,000 and Rs 60,000.
Help at hand, assures State government
Students needing the State government’s assistance can call 8499992968 or 9440854433 to reach Telangana’s NRI Cell