Thursday, 03 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The Uttarakhand government has decided that people hailing from Uttarakhand who are returning from Ukraine would be transported free of cost from Delhi towards their destinations.
The officiating chief secretary Radha Raturi said on Wednesday that information about 282 people of Uttarakhand living in Ukraine has been received by the state administration so far and out of them more than 30 have returned home safely. She said this while chairing a meeting of all district magistrates (DM) via video conferencing on the day. In the meeting she directed all DMs to remain in constant touch with the family members of the students and others stranded in Ukraine and inform the state administration and Delhi based resident commissioner of Uttarakhand about their current location. This will help in fast exchange of information with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Raturi said that information is also being sought from the Indian embassies in the neighbouring countries of Ukraine. She informed that three WhatsApp groups of the students stranded in Ukraine and their family members have been made and all senior officers are also the members of these groups. Raturi said that district level officers are in touch with the family members of the stranded students and the combined efforts of state and union government are on for their safe return. She further informed that coordination centres have been set up in Delhi and Mumbai by Uttarakhand. Arrangements are made for the stay of the guests and the state government has made arrangements to transport the students from Delhi to their destinations. In the meeting the officiating CS told the DMs to send teams for the getting in touch with family members who are still not in contact with them. She said nodal officers at district and Tehsil level have been appointed for safe return of people of Uttarakhand stranded in Ukraine. The Uttarakhand government has sent Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman to Delhi as nodal officer for ensuring better coordination on the issue. Raturi added that the state disaster control room has been activated for information about the current location of the stranded people in Ukraine.
The meeting was also attended by Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Anand Bardhan, Additional Director General (ADG) Intelligence Sanjay Gunjyal, secretary S A Murugeshan, Vinod Kumar Suman and others.
