A total of 180 more students from Tamil Nadu, who were stranded in Ukraine, arrived in Chennai on Sunday evening from Delhi on a chartered flight. Tickets were being arranged for 159 more students to return home. Of the total 1,011 students who arrived in Delhi from Ukraine as on Sunday morning, 852 reached Tamil Nadu.
The team formed by the Chief Minister to coordinate the evacuation of students interacted with them in Delhi.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said that if the parents of students could not receive the students after they landed in Chennai, the State government was taking steps to help them reach home. “In case of places such as Kanniyakumari or Coimbatore or Madurai, we are sending them by flight. For areas closer, they are sent on cars,” the Rajya Sabha member said.
Initially, there were complaints that officials in the Indian embassy did not take care of students and those from Tamil Nadu could not return home. Mr. Siva said, “True, that was the case. If 1,000 students arrived, only about 10 were from Tamil Nadu.”
After the Tamil Nadu team took up the “discrimination” with the Union Minister for External Affairs, he promised to look into it, Mr. Siva said. About 200-300 students were arriving after Chief Minister M.K. Stalin constituted this committee. “Till the last student from Tamil Nadu arrives, we will work,” he said.
An official release said arrangements were made to accommodate and provide food to students in Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi.
Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan told reporters in Chennai, “So far, about 90% of the students have returned. Our government’s main intention is to bring home the last Indian citizen there. Rescuing them is our first duty.”
About 3,000-4,000 students were arriving in India daily and 12,000-15,000 students had already returned, Mr. Murugan said. “Our intention is bring home each and every student safely. We are working towards that.”
