HIGHLIGHTS-
- ‘Operation Ganga’ is an initiative launched by the Indian government to bring back Indians who have become stuck in Ukraine.
- India has already successfully evacuated over 1,000 of its citizens to the country.
- A dedicated Twitter account named ‘OpGanga’ has been created to assist Operation Ganga.
‘Operation Ganga’ is an initiative launched by the Indian government to bring back Indians who have become stuck in Ukraine. Under this initiative, India has already successfully evacuated over 1,000 of its citizens to the country.
Amid the Ukraine and Russia crises, the Indian government has set up several 24-hour control centers to help in the evacuation of Indian people via border crossing points with Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a dedicated Twitter account named ‘OpGanga’ has been created to assist Operation Ganga. Here all the information regarding the evacuation process and advisories of embassies are shared to keep everyone aware. Thousands of Indian nationals have been evacuated from the crisis-hit region in recent days via several flights.
Ukraine- Russia Crisis
Several Indians have been stranded in Ukraine amid the ongoing war; Since the country blocked its airspace as a security measure after Russia initiated a “special military operation.” However, the Indian Embassy informed the stranded Indians that alternate arrangements would be made to assist them in returning to India.
Operation Ganga
On 26th February 2022, India’s first evacuation flight under Operation Ganga arrived in Mumbai, bringing 219 Indians back from Bucharest, Romania’s capital. The next day, a second evacuation flight carrying 250 people arrived in Delhi. The third flight ferried 240 Indians from Budapest, Hungary, while the fourth and fifth flights flew 198 and 249 people from Bucharest to Delhi, respectively. The sixth flight under
Operation Ganga, according to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, has departed for Delhi.
Operation Ganga gains speed
A large number of Indians need to be evacuated from conflict-torn Ukraine, following which several Indian airlines have come forward to evacuate the stranded Indian citizens. Under the operation Ganga, airlines including IndiGo, Air India Express, and SpiceJet, have also started operating flights to Bucharest and Budapest. Till now, only Air India was operating its flight for the evacuation process.
Union Ministers heading towards Ukraine’s border countries for evacuation operations
Many students who reached Ukraine’s borders with Poland and Romania, however, were denied entry into those countries. Following this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that four Union Ministers will be sent to Poland and Romania to oversee the evacuation. Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, as well as Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri, Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiradtiya Scindia, and Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation General V K Singh, are among the Indian government’s Special Envoys who will be heading soon to evacuate the students.