new Delhi: Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the Indian government launched a campaign to repatriate stranded Indian citizens, including students, from the war-torn country. The operation, named ‘Operation Ganga’, also provides humanitarian assistance to Indian citizens who have migrated to Ukraine’s neighboring countries, which include Romania, Hungary, Poland, Moldova and Slovakia.
Operation Ganga is planned by the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian Armed Forces. Airlines including Air India, Indigo, SpiceJet and Air India Express have also joined the mission.
A dedicated Twitter account (@opganga) has been set up to assist in the evacuation of Indian citizens from Ukraine through Operation Ganga.
In addition, control centres, which operate 24×7, have been set up at border crossing points with Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. evacuation flights are free,
Four Union ministers are in neighboring Ukraine to expedite the evacuation. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri is currently in Hungary. Meanwhile, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is in Romania.
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation General Vijay Kumar Singh is in Poland.
Union Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju is in Slovakia to expedite the evacuation through Operation Ganga.
Following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the Embassy of India in Kyiv, Ukraine issued an advisory for students stranded without a place to stay in Kyiv. The Indian embassy asked students not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary and to carry their documents with them at all times. The first step under Operation Ganga was taken on 26 February. Till March 2, a total of 24 flights carrying Indian citizens have reached India.
Here is a timeline of the events that took place since the launch of Operation Ganga.
26 February: The first batch of Indian students stranded in Ukraine arrived at the Mumbai airport on the evening of 26 February. An Air India flight brought Indians from Bucharest, Romania to Mumbai.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the first batch consisted of 219 Indian nationals.
The second evacuation flight from Bucharest arrived at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport with around 250 Indian students. The students arrived at the Delhi airport at 3 am on an Air India flight from Bucharest.
February 27: The third flight carrying 240 Indian nationals under Operation Ganga took off from Budapest, Hungary on the morning of 27 February. In a tweet, Union External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar thanked his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szizarto.
The fourth flight under the operation brought 198 Indian nationals from Bucharest to Delhi.
28 February: The fifth evacuation flight under Operation Ganga carrying 249 Indian nationals from Bucharest reached Delhi on 28 February.
On the same day, the sixth evacuation flight under the mission brought 240 Indian nationals from Budapest to Delhi.
On the same day, 182 Indian nationals began their return journey from Bucharest to Mumbai. This was the seventh flight under Operation Ganga.
March 1: The Indian Embassy in Ukraine’s Kyiv said on Wednesday that more than 1,400 Indian students have been facilitated westward from the city of Zaporizhzhya in south-eastern Ukraine.
The embassy also tweeted on Wednesday that 400 students held near the embassy since February 24 had left Kyiv by train during the efforts of Operation Ganga. Also, the movement of more than 1,000 Indian students from Kyiv to Western Ukraine was ensured.
The Embassy of India advised all Indian nationals, including students, to leave Kyiv immediately, preferably by available trains, or by any means available.
On March 1, the Indian Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, said in an advisory that Indians in Lviv and Ternopil and other places in western Ukraine can travel to the Budomierz border check-point at the earliest for a relatively quicker entry into Poland. The embassy advised Indians to travel south via Hungary or Romania, and asked them to avoid crossing the Shehini-Medyka border, which is still overcrowded.
The eighth flight under Operation Ganga brought 216 Indian nationals from Budapest to New Delhi.
On the same day, the ninth evacuation flight from Bucharest carrying 218 Indian nationals reached New Delhi.
March 2: On March 2, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, in an advisory asked all Indian nationals in Kharkiv to leave immediately in view of the deteriorating situation. They were advised to move as soon as possible to Pesochin, Babe and Bezludokva.
Jaishankar said in a tweet on Wednesday that six flights have left for India in the last 24 hours. These included the first flights from Poland.
Jaishankar said the flights were carrying over 1,377 Indian nationals from Ukraine.
The Union Minister said in a tweet late on Wednesday that nine flights had taken off from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Poland under Operation Ganga. These included Air Force aircraft.
Hardeep Singh Puri said in a tweet on Wednesday that between February 26 and March 1, 1136 Indian students took five flights from Budapest to Delhi.
The IAF on Wednesday said it has deployed four C-17 aircraft to supply relief materials and evacuate Indian nationals using airfields in Romania, Poland and Hungary as part of the ongoing Operation Ganga.
March 3: The first evacuation flight of the IAF with 200 Indians landed in Delhi earlier in the day.
The IAF said the first IAF C-17 returned from Bucharest at Hindon airport near Delhi at 1:00 PM IST on March 3. The Indian Air Force said in a tweet that there were 200 passengers on board, mostly students.
The first four IAF C-17 aircraft under Operation Ganga on Thursday evacuated 798 Indian nationals using airfields in Romania, Hungary and Poland, the Indian Air Force said in a tweet. They also supplied 9.7 tonnes of relief material.
first four #IAF C-17 aircraft under #OperationGanga 798 Indian nationals were evacuated using airfields in Romania, Hungary and Poland. He also supplied 9.7 tonnes of relief material. pic.twitter.com/c6gRUQcnhT
– Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) 3 March 2022
The IAF also tweeted that three more IAF C-17 aircraft took off from Romania, Hungary and Poland today. It also shared a video of a C-17 taking off from Budapest.
Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday that 3276 Indians are returning home today. In a tweet, he mentioned that Indians are returning home from Bucharest, Suceava, Kosice, Budapest and Razzo respectively.
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What’s next for Operation Ganga?
Sources told news agency ANI on Thursday that the government has roped in over two dozen ministers to oversee the smooth evacuation of Indians returning from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Poland at the Delhi and Mumbai airports under Operation Ganga.
Scindia, who is currently in Romania, said on Thursday that eight flights would arrive in Bucharest today and take around 1,800 citizens to India, reported ANI. Scindia said that yesterday six flights carrying around 1,300 civilians departed from Bucharest.
He further said that he is going towards Border Point Seurat. There are over 1,000 students in Sairat, the minister said.
Scindia said that Suseva is the nearest airport to Sirat. So, two Indigo flights are coming to Suseva today and will take around 450 students back to India. Scindia said that four flights will come to Suseva tomorrow and will take 900 to 1,000 students.
Sources told news agency ANI on Thursday that the Indian government has accelerated the evacuation plan for Indians stranded in Ukraine by increasing the number of flights to bring back more Indian nationals.
By March 10, a total of 80 flights will be pressed into service to evacuate Indians from neighboring countries of Ukraine. These flights will be provided by Air India, Air India Express, Indigo, SpiceJet, Vistara and GoAir. The Air Force will also provide its aircraft.
ANI reported that plans have been made to evacuate 35 people from Bucharest. Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and Vistara will provide fourteen, eight, seven and three flights respectively to carry out the evacuation. SpiceJet will provide a flight. The Air Force will provide two aircraft to evacuate Indians from Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
According to the report, a total of 28 flights are going to take off from Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Of these, Go Air will provide 15 flights. IndiGo and Air India will provide nine and two flights respectively. SpiceJet and IAF will both provide one flight each.
A total of nine flights are scheduled from Razzow, Poland. These include eight flights being provided by IndiGo, and one being provided by the Indian Air Force.
Meanwhile, five flights are scheduled to take off from Suceava, Romania, and three from Koसिसice, Slovakia.
Around 17,000 stranded Indians will be evacuated from Ukraine through scheduled flights to take off from Budapest, Bucharest, Rizzo, Suceva and Kosice, reported ANI.