AP govt to take care of expenses of 350 students from state once they arrive in Delhi from Ukraine

NEW DELHI: The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday said it will take care of accommodation, meals and transportation of 350 students belonging to the state after they arrive in the national capital from strife-torn Ukraine. The first batch of Indian evacuees from Ukraine is scheduled to arrive in Delhi from Budapest, Hungary on Sunday morning. Five of the Indians boarded on this flight belong to Andhra Pradesh, it said in a statement in Delhi.

Principal Resident Commissioner at Andhra Bhavan Praveen Prakash said about 1,100 students from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are stuck in Ukraine. "Out of 700 Telugu speaking students, 350 of them belong to Andhra Pradesh. Many of them are medical students... Upon arrival in Delhi, we will take care of meals, accommodation and transport till they get back home. All expenses will be borne by the government," Prakash added.

Also read | Russia-Ukraine War: Stranded Indian students face water shortage, fear network disruption

The Andhra Pradesh government has so far traced 423 students from the state studying in war-hit Ukraine and established contact with them, a senior official said on Saturday in Amravati. Chairperson of the Special Task Force to bring back the affected persons and Principal Secretary M T Krishna Babu said the government has identified the students who are enrolled in seven different universities in Ukraine. "We are in touch with them and giving necessary instructions on their safety and possible repatriation to the state," Krishna Babu said here. Based on the Ministry of External Affair's latest advisory for Indians not to come to the Ukrainian borders, the AP Special Task Force has asked the students from the state too to follow the same. A help desk has been established in the New Delhi airport to assist the students returning from Ukraine and bring them back to their native places. He said they were in touch with the Romanian Embassy as the seven universities, where the Telugu students were located, were close to the Romania-Ukraine border. Barring the students, other civilians from AP had not come in contact with them, the Principal Secretary added.

“We are, however, collecting details about the non-resident Telugus in Ukraine from different agencies,” Krishna Babu said. Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Chief N Chandrababu Naidu held a virtual Zoom meeting with the stranded Telugu students in Ukraine and rescue coordinators in Europe for the second consecutive day.

Also read | First Air India evacuation flight departs from Bucharest with 219 Indians; second flight on course

Naidu has directed the party's NRI Cell and Europe coordinators to get round-the-clock feedback from the students as a confidence-building measure, the TDP said in a statement. The former chief minister advised students to stay in their current locations and pool their resources among themselves for the sake of their immediate safety and security. He also asked them to keep in contact with the rescue coordinators through WhatsApp groups or mail to get help for food and accommodation, the statement said.

Over 300 Telugu students reached the border with Hungary but they got stuck there due to lack of permission for passage from the Ukrainian Army there, the TDP said. The party said five to six special trains would be required to rush all the stranded Indians in different Ukrainian cities to the borders. It would ensure the safe return of all the 4,000 stranded Telugu as well and the issue would be taken up with the central government.

Naidu asked some Indian students stranded in a Kyiv hotel to get financial help for food and accommodation locally. The TDP would reimburse them back home in India, the statement added.