BENGALURU: More than 550 students from Karnataka are still stranded in Ukraine, data from Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSMDA), whose call centre has been flooded with queries from the stranded youngsters and their parents, shows.
The data shows there were 694 students in Ukraine, 57 of whom returned to India before the war broke out. From February 27 and until Wednesday afternoon, 86 students arrived in eight batches, some of whom landed in Deli en route to Bengaluru. Officials say the data is being updated continuously.
The emergency operation centre, located in MS Building, has been receiving frantic calls from stranded students and worried parents. Bengaluru alone has 425 students stuck in Ukraine or neighbouring countries. The students are between 18 and 22 years of age and the most – 144 – are 21 years.
On Tuesday, the day Naveen SG was killed, the centre received 130 calls from parents of other stranded students. Till 2pm on Wednesday, the centre received 40 such calls. “We have constituted district level teams which are visiting parents. We have reached out to 453 families so far. The call centre is working 24/7,” said Manoj Rajan, nodal officer and commissioner, KSMDA.
Rajan said KSDMA’s tech team created an app and portal (http://ukraine. karnataka. tech) within 12 hours of the war breaking out on February 24 to track students. Friends, family members and the public can provide specific details such as name, age and contact details of Karnataka students stuck in Ukraine. The portal also has contacts of Indian embassy officials in each of the cities of Ukraine.
“It’s a war situation and students there must be careful. They must follow alerts which the Indian embassy puts out and reach out to us in case of any issues,” said Rajan.
Mom thanks officials
When her medico son in Khiv, who somehow reached the railway station, could not get in touch with Indian embassy officials, Olin Lasrado from Padil, Dakshina Kannada district rang up Manoj Rajan, nodal officer in Karnataka, in the middle of the night asking for help.
Rajan and his team helped her son get in touch with the Indian embassy when he safely crossed into Slovakia. On Wednesday morning, with her son set to leave for India, Lasrado rang up the Rajan to say a big ‘thank you’.
“I panicked when my son could not get through to Indian embassy officials. I had to rely on total strangers and officials from Karnataka were of great help. My son is safe now,” Lasrado told TOI.
