Two Students From Tinsukia Still Stranded In Ukraine

Doomdooma: Although many students were able to safely return home from war-ravaged Ukraine under Operation Ganga undertaken by the Government of India, two students from Tinsukia district pursuing studies at Kharkiv National Medical University, Ukraine are yet to be evacuated and they have taken shelter inside a bunker on the Ukraine-Russia border amid fear and uncertainty.

Of these two, one is Nirup Kumar Panda, son of Dr K. Panda, Associate Professor, Sadiya College, Chapakhowa, and the other is Hrikesh Deka, son of Sanjib Kumar Deka of Rupaisiding, Doomdooma. Dr K. Panda said that his son Nirup could not board the train at Kharkiv Railway station. So he, along with more than 500 other students, had to walk about 15 km from there to Pisochyn on Wednesday as per government advice and got stuck there. They had to take shelter inside a bunker and spend the night without any food.

Seeing no other alternative, Dr K Panda sent tweets to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the External Affairs Minister's office as well to the President of India which stated, "Kindly evacuate these innocent lives through safe passage."

However, the reassuring factor is that as per latest information, Nirup could board a bus arranged at the behest of Orissa Chief Minister Nabin Patnaik in consultation with the Ukraine government to go towards the western side of Ukraine so as to enter either Poland or Rumania for their safe return to India, informed Dr K. Panda.

On the other hand, of the total of 400-500 Indian students stranded in Sumy, about 40-50 of them are from Assam, said Hrishikesh Deka while talking to his parents over phone to inform about his plight on Thursday. He said, "Our lives are in danger as we are only 53 km away from the Russian border. We can't go out to buy food and the provision stores are running out of stock. Moreover, our ATM cards are not working."

He went on to add, "We are in contact with the Indian Embassy here and the officials of the Embassy told us that they were doing their best to evacuate us. But till now we are stranded here." Till filing of this report, Hrishikesh's father Sanjib Deka said that the situation remained unchanged and they were passing their days amid great agony and uncertainty.

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