GS Paul
Amritsar, March 4
As many as 14 students from Punjab reached safely at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International airport today. The students from Amritsar, Jalandhar and Bathinda were received by family members accompanied by Rajya Sabha Member Shwait Malik, who was approached by parents to get their children evacuated from Kharkiv.
Students said many Indians were still waiting to cross the border to Poland via the Kyiv stretch. Most have been stuck in Lviv, around 60 km from the Polish border. They alleged local authorities were treating their own citizens on priority, ignoring Indians.
Students said reaching the border was a nightmare as in the absence of transport, they had to walk several miles. They were unable to catch trains with authorities allowing own citizens on board.
Amritsar-based Jaanvi, pursuing MBBS in Kharkiv, said there was intense shelling near the place they were putting up in the northeastern city. She expressed gratitude towards the Indian authorities for facilitating their return.
Her father Kapil Sharma said several parents had contacted Malik, seeking his intervention. Malik contacted the ministry concerned to locate the students who had reached Lviv by then. “They were to leave for Hungarian border. We learnt through Malik’s contact that instead of Hungary, students should proceed towards Poland as it was time consuming. The students were advised so and evacuated,” he said.
Meanwhile, Harjinder Singh, a medical student who was stranded at Kharkiv in Ukraine, returned to hometown Abohar last night. Four local students, who had started their journey before Russia started pounding Ukraine, had reached Abohar last week.
Recounting his ordeal, he said: “For three to four days, we faced great difficulty and sometimes we didn’t eat anything… I hired a taxi that charged double the fare and reached the Metro station despite shelling. Many students ran out of money and the ATMs were shut.
(With inputs from Raj Sadosh)
14 more back safely in Amritsar; one reaches Abohar
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