Govt has no plans to evacuate students, keeping eye on situation: MEA
The Government has no immediate evacuation plans for Indian students in Ukraine and no special flight has been arranged for this purpose. At the same time, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has removed the curbs on the number of flights to/from Ukraine under the bilateral air bubble arrangement, including chartered flights to facilitate the travel of students and professionals stranded in crisis in the eastern European nation.
On a question on how India sees the current development in Ukraine at a media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India has no immediate evacuation plans and there are no special flights.
Bagchi said that India has been supportive of an immediate de-escalation of tensions and resolution of the Ukraine crisis through sustained diplomatic dialogue. He said the Indian embassy in Kyiv has been in touch with the Indian students in Ukraine and that it continued to monitor the situation on the ground.
In a statement, the Civil Aviation Ministry said that it has removed the restriction on the number of flights and seats between India and Ukraine under the bilateral air bubble arrangement. “Any number of flights as well as Charter flights can operate.
Indian airlines have been informed to mount the flights due to increase in demand,” said the Ministry adding it is also coordinating with the MEA regarding the flight services.
The Indian embassy in Kyiv said more flights are being planned in the near future to meet the additional demand. Currently, India has air bubble arrangements with 35 countries.
“We’ve set up control rooms. We also have a 24/7 helpline. I don’t think any decision on evacuation has been taken, our embassy continues to function normally and provide services to Indian nationals in Ukraine,” Bagchi said. On the seriousness of the ongoing developments, the spokesperson said, “We take on board developments that are happening as well as our assessment of how we can assist our citizens there. Our focus is and remains on Indian citizens, Indian students, Indian nationals rather than anything larger than that.”
“However, there were a limited number of flights under air bubble arrangements, restrictions on the number of flights and passengers removed. Indian carriers being encouraged to operate Chartered flights between India-Ukraine,” he said.
“In a sense, we have been supportive of an immediate de-escalation of tensions and a resolution of issues through sustained diplomatic dialogue. Welcome efforts being undertaken under Normandy Format for implementation of Minsk agreements,” he added.
Amid the prevailing situation in Ukraine due to the rising tensions with Russia and uncertainties of the current situation, India on Tuesday advised its citizens to temporarily leave Ukraine. Meanwhile, several students who are stranded in Ukrain, have complained that airfares between Ukraine and India have almost doubled and a ticket of Rs 30,000 is now being charged at Rs 60,000, which many students can’t afford.”The Embassy of India has been receiving several appeals about the non-availability of flights from Ukraine to India. In this regard, students are advised not to resort to panic, but book the earliest available and convenient flights to travel to India,” the embassy in Kyiv had said in a statement.