Photo Credit: IANS
IANSLive
New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Amidst the global tumult being experienced due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in eastern Europe in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, one of the shining beacons of light is how India has been conducting a smooth and effective operation in the last few days to rescue more than 15,000 stranded Indians from the conflict zone.
Codenamed “Operation Ganga”, the ongoing programme is aimed at providing humanitarian assistance to Indian citizens amidst the Russian invaded war zone. This involves transportation and other logistic assistance from Ukraine to the neighbouring countries of Romania, Hungary, Poland, Moldova and Slovakia.
Accommodation and food for the Indian citizens has been arranged by the concerned Indian embassies in close cooperation with the host countries, which have suddenly faced a large influx of refugees and are deserving accolades for their hospitality as well.
Upon ensuring their safety, these Indians (most of whom are medical students) are then flown back to the national capital. In fact, the safe evacuation of Indian nationals was first discussed within few hours at the beginning of the invasion when Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought it up with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In addition, this was also discussed during the telephonic conversation with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. In order to aid the same, four Union Ministers of Government of India — Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Gen V.K. Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia — were sent to these countries so as to assist with coordination and facilitate a smooth rescue operation for affected people.
As part of the operation, 3 Indian Air Force C-17 aircrafts apart from numerous commercial flights of Air India, Go Air, SpiceJet and Indigo have also been engaged there with concerted efforts for the mission. In toto, 7 flights from Bucharest, 5 from Budapest, 3 from Warsaw and 1 from Slovakia were…