New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday took note of the Centre's submission that it has evacuated 17,000 stranded Indians from the conflict zone in Ukraine, saying it appreciated the efforts but was concerned about the anxiety of people. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana lauded the personal efforts undertaken by Attorney General K K Venugopal. The appreciation came in respect of the evacuation of Bengaluru resident Fathima Ahana and several other medical students who were stranded near the Romania border in Ukraine.
A total of 17,000 stranded people have already been evacuated from the conflict zone in Ukraine, Venugopal told the bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kolhi. "We appreciate the efforts by the Centre. We are not saying anything on that. But we are also concerned," said the bench. The bench, hearing two petitions related to the evacuation of students and others from Ukraine, asked the Centre to consider setting up a helpdesk for the families of the stranded people.
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Amid the Russian invasion on UKraine entering the 8th day, Indian diplomatic mission in war-torn Ukraine had issued and advisory for citizens stranded in Kharkiv to fill a Google form. Though the officials have not assigned any reason for the data collection, it is learnt that they were working on means for evacuation. India also revealed that it has not shut its embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which is under siege of 40-mile Russian military convoy.
"Embassy is not shut in Kyiv. A team of the Embassy in Kyiv was asked to move to Lviv. We have an office now functioning in Lviv. We were trying to see if the other part of the team of the Embassy in Kyiv can move to the Eastern side of the country but it is a dynamic process so I do not know exactly where they are. The embassy is fully functional," said Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
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(with Agency inputs)
