Operation Ganga: PM Modi interacts with evacuees from Ukraine in Varanasi
Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), March 3: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday interacted with students who were brought back to India from war-torn Ukraine in Varanasi.
The evacuees shared their experiences with the Prime Minister. The students were from Varanasi and other parts of Uttar Pradesh.
So far, a total of 18,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and special flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in conflict-ridden Ukraine.
"30 flights under Operation Ganga have brought back 6,400 Indians from Ukraine so far. In the next 24 hours, 18 flights have been scheduled," said MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Thursday.
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Meanwhile, first four Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft under Operation Ganga have evacuated 798 Indian nationals using airspace of Romania, Hungary and Poland and also supplied 9.7 tons of relief material.
In a bid to further scale up the evacuation efforts, the government has deployed 80 flights under 'Operation Ganga' to evacuate stranded Indians and has also roped in more than two dozen Ministers to monitor evacuation missions without any hiccups.
A total of 80 flights will be dispatched by March 10 to evacuate the stranded Indians. These planes are from the Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Spice Jet, Vistara, Go Air, and Indian Air Force fleets.
In recent days, the Prime Minister has presided over crucial meetings on the matter.
Three days after Moscow recognised Ukraine's breakaway regions - Donetsk and Luhansk - as independent entities, Russian soldiers commenced armed actions in Ukraine on February 24.
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-PTC News
