Feb 28, 2022, 8:38 PM IST
After bringing back 41 Indians to Karnataka successfully, the Nodal Officer appointed by the government of Karnataka, Manoj Rajan spoke to Asianet Newsable about what goes on behind the scenes during the evacuation process.
Rajan said details of over 400 Karnataka residents were sourced through a dedicated portal developed by the Karnataka government. The data was shared with the External Affairs Ministry for a better evacuation process. The officer stated that the evacuation is done in a phased manner and students are first asked to come to neighbouring countries' borders and from there are sent to Delhi and Mumbai.
The Karnataka team has deployed its representatives at Mumbai and Delhi to take the returnees to Karnataka Bhavan. From there, they are brought to Bengaluru International Airport. The officer further added that as per information, Kharkiv and Kyiv area which falls in the Eastern Ukraine region is tense and efforts are on to take Indian residents to borders at the earliest.
On reports from media that Ukraine officials torturing Indian residents, beating and asking them to go back to bunkers and metro tunnels, Rajan said, since there is a curfew, officials may have asked the Indian residents to go back for their own safety. He, however, maintained that such matters would have been reported to MEA and contended that it is the competent authority to react on the matter.
On Karnataka girl Sakshi Sudhakar's viral video: Rajan who received the information that 300 Indian residents are stuck in a bunker and are managing with limited food stock, first appreciated her way of handling things and assured her that help will be extended and she and others stuck in Mykolaiv will be evacuated at the earliest.