Third-year medical student J. Anusha Bhat is the first resident of Mangaluru to return from war-torn Ukraine on March 3.
Talking to reporters outside Mangaluru International Airport, Ms. Bhat said she and other students were confused in the absence of a clear advisory to return to India. They decided to stay back in the university as the ‘step one examination of their medical course was on’. The area they were staying in was not affected by the war, she added.
On the war began, she and other students contacted a travel agent who arranged for a bus to the border town of Chernivtsi. From Chernivtsi, they made it to the Romanian border on February 27 morning. “We walked about two kilometres by foot to the border checkpost.”
Ukranain army personnel allowed students to cross over and enter the immigration checkpost of Romania. The students were placed in a shelter, which was among two shelters arranged for stranded Indians in Romania. After two days, the Indian Government arranged for a flight from Bucharest (capital of Romania) to Mumbai. “From Mumbai, I boarded a flight to Mangaluru today,” she said. “Our government was in constant touch with me from Bucharest to Mumbai.”
An overwhelmed Vidya, mother of Ms. Bhat, who had come to receive her daughter at the airport, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, BJP State president and Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel, Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath and the Dakshina Kannada district administration for helping her daughter reach home safely.
Mr. Kateel and Mr. Kamath had come to the airport to receive Ms. Bhat who arrived from Mumbai at 1.05 p.m.
Earlier, Mr. Kateel and Higher Education Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan criticised former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s statement that the Central Government has neglected to safely bringing back stranded Indians. The two claimed the Indian Government is the only government working to safely bring back all their citizens trapped in Ukraine. They told reporters that Siddaramaiah and the Congress party were needlessly politicising the issue without knowing the true picture of the massive rescue operation undertaken by the Central Government.
When asked about the continuation of education of the medical students who are returning to India from Ukraine, Mr. Narayan told The Hindu it will be looked into after hearing from the students. “Our first priority now is to safely bring stranded Indians back,” he said.
Asked about the demand for scrapping National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Mr. Kateel said it will be discussed in Parliament.
