Students stranded in Ukraine allege no help from Indian embassy

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, March 2

While the Indian Government is making tall claims of making all-out efforts to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine, students stuck there have a different story to tell.

According to them, neither the Indian Embassy has offered them any support or help, nor do they have anyone at the Romania border to guide them. After reaching Romania, they are stuffed up like cattle in shelters not knowing how to reach Bucharest, which is a six-hour journey to board an Air India flight there.

Meanwhile, a Delhi-based doctor, who works as an admission agent, has come to the rescue of Indian students by arranging conveyances for students to reach Romanian borders.

Vibhuti from Hoshiarpur, a third-year MBBS student at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Lviv in Ukraine, along with 90 more students, has reached the Romanian border from Lviv through two buses. Her maternal uncle Anuj Vasudev told this correspondent that despite tall claims by the government, the reality is quite opposite. “Vibhuti told us over phone that despite repeated attempts, there was no response from the Indian embassy. A Delhi-based admission agent, Dr Mansoor, arranged two buses for 90 students to reach the Romanian border,” said Vasudev. He told that there was no one from the Indian embassy to help them at the border. The Indian government might have arranged Air India flights from Bucharest but there is no provision to reach the shelter in Badeuti, which is at six-hour drive from Bucharest.

“The shelter in Badueti is nothing less than a hell experience. It’s a basketball hall and around 2,000 persons have been stuffed there like cattle. There’s only one bathroom for those 2,000 people and temperature runs in minus. No one knows how to reach Bucharest and there is no support extended from the Indian government or the embassy,” said Vasudev.

He demanded that instead of making airy claims, the Indian government must do something in concrete to evacuate the students and help them on ground to reach borders of neighbouring countries and evacuate them.