Transcript of Special Briefing by Official Spokesperson on Operation Ganga (February 28, 2022)

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson:A very good evening to all of you. Namaskar. Thank you for joining us for this special briefing on the evacuation of our citizens from Ukraine, under operation Ganga. We will try to keep it as regular as we can, as promised, we are trying to do a daily briefing, but that will, of course, depend on the situation and developments on the ground. Let me perhaps make some initial comments. But I think today, we'll try to brief you on what has been happening, give you a sense of where we are and then if you have a few more questions, we will try to answer that. I would rely on Foreign Secretary's very detailed briefing. We will not use the map today. You've all seen it. But I will rely on his very detailed briefing that he made yesterday and to emphasize that, you know, we are making progress, I think you can see day by day. But let me start with what you've seen already, which is that decision to send special envoys of Honourable Prime Minister to the four countries, well actually five but we have a common envoy for two countries, to the countries neighbouring Ukraine, specifically, Honourable Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, will be going to Romania and will also go to Moldova, and I'll come to a bit on the Moldova story. Honourable Minister Kiren Rijiju will go to the Slovak Republic. Honourable Minister Hardeep Puri would be going to Hungary and Honourable Minister, General V.K. Singh would be going to Poland. You've seen some reports already, let me confirm that. The special envoys will be traveling to these countries basically to coordinate and oversee the evacuation process there on the ground, situation permitting you might also find them going to as close as possible to where the evacuation happening. So that will depend on the specific circumstances. But I think you will see them operating there coordinating all the efforts and as I mentioned, being in touch with local authorities and as well as with other partners that are helping in this process.

Having said that, just to give you a sense of where our evacuation efforts are let me begin by saying that the situation on the ground in terms of evacuation continues to be complex, and fluid. You've seen that from the reports, media reports that are coming in, some of them quite concerning. Nevertheless, we have been able to accelerate our evacuation process clearly over the last 24 hours and I will give you separate elements of that. Just some broad numbers - our estimate is, more than estimated over 8,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since we issued the initial advisories. So I go back it's not since the conflict began but since we issued the initial advisories, our estimate, estimate to the extent that we don't exactly know how many left between the advisory and the conflict started. We think around 8,000 citizens have left. And as I speak, I think the sixth flight has just landed. So six evacuation flights have landed in India bringing back around 1400, 1396 I think is the number that I have, 1400 students, Indian citizens, these are four flights from Bucharest as you remember and two from Budapest. So these six flights have brought back around 1396 Indian nationals. As I said over 8,000 citizens have left, that is over the advisory period and then of course the operation Ganga as it has started. We have had six evacuation flights that have landed in India, the sixth one having landed just a little while ago in Delhi. Of the six flights four left Bucharest and two were from Budapest. The total number of people on these flights are 1,396. That's what our numbers are, I will come back to the flights in a minute.

Our focus, of course, is on the land borders before they go to the flights to getting people out from Ukraine through the land borders. There has been some improvement on the movement into Poland, as we were discussing yesterday about the difficulties at the Polish border, I think they're still difficult, but I think it's improved. Our embassy in Warsaw was able to arrange buses, at the Shehyni border point, there is Shehyni-Medyka border point, the Shehyni side is on the Ukrainian side. So do remember that we're talking about the Ukrainian side, things are much easier to do on whether it's the Polish or the Romanian or the Hungarian, or the Slovak side, it's inside Ukraine. But I must say our embassy was able to organize a fleet of 10 buses and I think now that's being expanded. To take students who have been stuck at the Shehyni border point and take them to the Krakowiec which is the main border crossing is and also to a place called Budomierz, which is even more North a few more kilometres North in the same Polish border, and facilitate their crossing into Poland. So that has helped take off some of the pressure there. But again, this is a continuing process, because there were a lot of students and I think they are still out there. On the Polish side, once they cross, the border arrangements for food and accommodation have been made in the nearby town of Rzeszow. And a number of Indians are there currently awaiting their flights back to India. So this is a good development, we managed to get some people across and hopefully as this bus movement and taking them to the other border points continues, we should be able to ease some of the pressure. But I must emphasize that there is still a large number of Ukrainians and other citizens, the borders are pretty crowded.

There has also been movement, progress on the border with Romania, but I think two days ago, there was a lot of movement, yesterday movement was slow. But today, I think there has been some good progress. But large crowds still remain on, in fact, all the border points, I would say. We are separately expanding evacuation process through the Hungary border there is a city of Uzhhorod, that Foreign Secretary mentioned yesterday we are using that now as a staging point for that area. It's at far southwest of Ukraine and at Hungary also we've had good movement of people. I'm happy to announce that we've also been able to open a new route through Moldova and a MEA team reached Moldova today morning as Foreign Secretary has mentioned yesterday, that team is now in place and is operational, they will assist in the evacuation of Indians through Romania. Moldova, it's landlocked and so these people will come into Moldova then go from Moldova into Romania and then to Bucharest and then fly out from there. So this new route should help Indians in southern Ukraine around Odessa and those places and those near Ukraine Moldova borders. I am aware that some people were waiting on the Moldova side, some people had crossed into Moldova but couldn't enter Romania. So we are now looking at how we can move them from Ukraine into Moldova into Romania. So it's in process, but some people are already in Moldova, and we are trying to see how they can be helped into Romania, and into Bucharest. You would recall EAM spoke with his Moldovan and Hungarian counterparts yesterday and sought their support in facilitating evacuation of Indian citizen today, I think he has just spoken to the Polish Foreign Minister and let's see. Clearly at various levels, we are engaged with all the countries there with the primary focus on this. This is on the western part.

So moving on to the other parts of Ukraine we are encouraging Indians to move to Western Ukraine, as you have seen the advisories. Our understanding is that some students in some of these cities in Eastern Ukraine are boarding trains which is taking them to the west. And you would have seen some social media reports I think Honourable Ministers R.R. Singh also mentioned something. Some of it is confirmed some of it is happening as we speak. But let me make a request here and emphasize something to you all and to our students and the families who are listening to this - we want to emphasize that people should not reach the border directly. If they do, they will face long waiting times to cross as you've seen in Poland border as seen on the Romanian border. So yes, please do reach the western parts of the country or western parts of Ukraine but please seek shelter in nearby towns. Let me repeat again.

Dekhiye hamari aagrah rahegi, sare jo Students hai, Indians hai aapko Advisory di gai ki aap Western Ukraine mein jaaen per mein ye kehana chahta hoon, aapse anurodh karna chahta hoon ki aap jab jayenge aap wahan pe directly border mein na jaaen aap agar border mein jayenge to wahan bahut bhid hai aapko bahut samay lagega aapne Poland mein bhi dekha tha. Aap abhi Romania men dekh rahe hai Border Crossing mein bahut samay lagta hai, thand mein rukana padega, hum anurodh yahi karenge ki aap koi Nearby sheher mein jaaiye, ass pass ke shahar men agar kahin vahan bandobast ho rahi hai, kuchh humari team wahan Coordinate kar rahi hain aapki University vagairah bhi kar rahe honge vahan ruken, hamari team aapko help karegi, bilkul panic na kijiye, enough flights hain, hum aap ko abhi bataate hai uske baare mein. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) See, our request will be, all the students, Indians, you have been given advisory that you should go to Western Ukraine but I want to say this, I want to request you that when you go there you should not go there directly to border. If you go to the border, then there is a lot of crowd. It will take you a long time. You also saw in Poland. You see in Romania right now. Border Crossing takes a lot of time. You will have to stay in the cold. We would request that you go to any nearby city, if there is any settlement in the nearby city, some of our team is coordinating there. Your university will also be assisting etc. Stay in there, our team will help you. Do not panic at all, there are enough flights, we will tell you about that now.

So they should seek shelter in towns near the border areas that as I just said and move to the border only in consultation with our teams in accordance with the advisories that are being issued and will continue to be issued.

Moving to the two cities, regarding the cities of Kiev and Kharkiv, we are closely monitoring developments there, the situation. The weekend curfew was lifted today in Kiev in the morning. It is the weekend curfew and at 8 o'clock today that curfew was lifted. Currently there is no curfew in Kiev. We hear that in Kharkiv also it has been lifted. But again Kharkiv, we have less understanding because Kiev, we have better information. Our Embassy has issued two advisories today basically requesting students, asking students subject to safety of course, to make their way to the railway station in Kiev for onward journey to the western areas.

Aap jaisa kah rahe the hindi men hamari dutavas ne ek Advisory jari ki hai, ki jo hai Kiev sheher mein Students, abhi wahan pe curfew nahi hai aap nikal ke jitana ho sakta hai, risk na le ke, Kiev station pay jaiye, wahan se trains chal rahi hai, I think kuchh bina shulk ke trains chal rahi hai bhid hogi, abhi mainne dekha Advisory. Advisories ko follow kijiye. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate translation) As you were asking in Hindi. Our embassy has issued an advisory, that the students who are in the city of Kiev, there is no curfew right now. If you can, without taking any risk, go to the Kiev station, trains are running from there. I think some trains are running free of cost. There will be a crowd, just I saw Advisory. Follow the advisories.

So they will go to the railway station for onward journey to the western parts. Ukraine Airlines is arranging special trains for evacuations. And our latest understanding is that many students are now leaving Kiev, many Indian students are now leaving Kiev. We will share with you more updates as we will have them, our embassies are actually live on this issue.

So that's basically where we stand out as per information. Coming on to what are we coordinating, as you are aware a dedicated Twitter handle Op Ganga helpline with the hashtag handle @opganga, operation Ganga helpline, has been set up to assist in the evacuation process. This handle has been working in coordination with dedicated control centres that have been set up for each border crossing. And we have also shared with you the new numbers of the control centres, late last evening we shared with you. Those numbers are, you know as Foreign Secretary was saying originally, we have given you direct numbers of some of the officials. It is impossible to take that many calls. We are hoping that the control centre will be able to take the load, we will continue to expand this. And of course there is a control room in the Ministry of External Affairs actually operating from this very building, which is operating on 24/7 basis. Just to share with you a number it has handled more than 8000 calls and processed more than 6000 emails since it was set up I think a few days ago. Yes, the MEA control room has handled more than 8000 calls and processed more than 6000 emails since the control room was set up. This is apart from of course the calls and the messages that our embassies and our control centres abroad are receiving, this is just the Ministry of External Affairs control room here.

Let me move on to the flights as I started off, Foreign Secretary indicated to you a tentative flight schedule yesterday you saw that we are adding to that based on demand. Demand means whenever students are there. At this moment just to share information, over the next 24 hours three more flights are scheduled. Two of these flights will be from Bucharest , so out of the three two from Bucharest, one to Delhi one to Mumbai. So Bucharest-Delhi, and Bucharest-Mumbai and one from Budapest to Delhi. So that's the next 24 hours. I don't want to give you more because we will keep on changing this. Let me emphasize another thing again, to everyone, particularly to the students and other family members, flights are not the constraint, we will add more flights as needed. We have seen some messages saying flights are going away, we will not be able to take the flights, panic is setting in, please do not get worried. Once you cross the Ukrainian borders, we will make sure there are enough flights to bring you back whether it takes a day or two more. So, I want to emphasize this to people who are saying the main focus is to ensure that Indians are able to cross over from Ukraine into the neighbouring countries that I mentioned. Just to emphasize also that we are continually augmenting the presence of the MEA teams for necessary arrangements at the border points in Slovak Republic, Romania, Poland and Hungary and now today Moldova. Contact details of these teams in these control centres have been shared, we are increasing the size of the teams. We are also increasing, augmenting the strength of our embassies in these four countries, bordering Ukraine. Every day we are authorizing more officials from nearby countries as well from Delhi to go and help our colleagues in these embassies.

I think that's broadly a briefing on what information I have. I would just like to end my initial remarks by saying that I don't think students should panic. They should try to go to the western parts of Ukraine, wait there, contact our teams, contact our control rooms, share their location information so that we can get them registered in terms of when can they be brought out because the borders are very crowded, and you cannot just land up and expect to wait. They will wait two days or one day in the cold and we are hoping that we are able to expand this process. Things have improved a bit, significantly I would say in some of the border checkpoints, particularly the Budapest one and we hope to augment that process in the next few days. I'll stop here and I will open the floor for if there are any questions. Will you please introduce yourselves and the organization for our record? I saw you first so I will start with you and that then I'll come to you.

Speaker 1:(…………….Inaudible)

Yashi:Hi I'm Yashi from the Indian Express. I would like to know that these 12,000 Indians who are still stranded in Ukraine, where is the maximum cluster, which part of Ukraine, are they? And secondly, is there a cap on the price that they are paying the airfare because there are reports saying that some of them are paying exorbitant air fares to come back to India. So these are two questions that I have. Thanks.

Meghana:Sir Meghana from DD News. Sir when are we arranging flights from Poland, from Warsaw and yesterday, we had in the briefing that there's a team of First Secretary level trying to see what can happen at the Moscow border. So what is the status on that?

Madhurendra: Sir, Madhurendra News nation se, mera sawal hai ki jo char Border-Points hain, abb to fifth bhi jud jaega jaisa ki aapne bataya wahan par Students ka Load hai wo kya assume aap log kar rahe hain ki kitne hazar kshatra jo hai har Border pay is vakt maujud hai aur kya Plan kiya gaya hai ki kitna vakt lagega in sabko atleast jo hai Border Cross karne mein or evacuate karane men to ye poora Plan jo aapka hai us ka timeline mein janana chahta hoon? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Sir, Madhurendra from News nation, my question is that the four border-points which are there, now the fifth will also be added, as you said. There is a load of students there, what are you doing? and how many thousand students are present on each border at this time and what has been planned, how long it will take to cross the border and evacuate. So I want to know the timeline of this whole plan.

Srinjoy: Sir, yesterday there was talk of people, Indian diplomats going in from the East towards Kharkiv and other areas to pull in at least the 2000 students who are in Kharkiv and adjoining areas. Now, how far has India gone on that?

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Okay, let me let me take this round of questions. I'll come back. I see some more hands still up there. Let me start with Manish Ji aapaka jo savaal tha and you asked for the confirmation. Let me first read out kaun se mantreejee kahaan ja rahe hai, mainne shuru mein kaha tha. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Let me start with Manish ji, which was your question and you asked for the confirmation. Let me first read out which ministers are going where, I said in the beginning.

Minister Jyotiraditya Sindhiya will be going to Romania and Moldova. Minister Kiren Rijiju will be going to the Slovak Republic, Minister Hardeep Puri will be going to Hungary and Minister General V.K. Singh will go to Poland. They have not left and they are here but they will go as soon as possible. This was direction from the Honourable Prime Minister and you know I think early morning today and it will happen soon.

Aap pooch rahe the ki kya unka role rahega, karenge kya, maine jaise pehale hi kaha unka main role hoga coordination or overseeing, ki kis tarah se chal raha hai vahan pe, ab hamaare 4 jo desh hai, panchava Moldova bhi hai. But dekhiye Moldova aadha-aadha hai, kyonki Moldova mein aane ke baad fir aapko Romania mein hi aana padega. To inka kam vahin pe focus hai ki kaise hum log laate hain border ke across or fir unko flight se bhej paate hain. Senior mantri ji vahan rahenge, isse do tarah ke fayde honge, ek coordination easy rahega plus Local government se bhi hamare unke contact to jaroor banenge wo ja rahe hain itne dur, or baki kya karenge dekhiye Senior Mantri hain, wo apne se decide karenge, aapko bataaenge hum log kaise banata hai aage ka steps. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) You were asking what will be their role, what will they do. As I have already said, their main role will be coordination and overseeing how it is going in the 4 countries, the fifth is Moldova. But look, Moldova is half-way, because after coming to Moldova, then you have to come back to Romania. So their work is to focus on how we bring people across the border and then send them by flight. The senior ministers will be there, it will have two kinds of benefits, one coordination will be easy plus we will also be able to establish their contacts with the local government. They are senior ministers, they will decide by themselves, we will tell you how we take the steps ahead.

Yashi you talked about 12,000, which are left and the airfare. Look let me clarify this, I think I did that. Under the evacuation operation Ganga, no one is paying any airfare at all. This is all being borne by the Government of India. So if there are stories, if there are reports that students are paying exorbitant, these stories are wrong, or they're talking about before the evacuation started when people were coming on commercial flights perhaps that could have been the reason but certainly we had six flights, you can ask any student who has come on any other flights, no one has had to pay a single rupee for that evacuation flight. So and this is obviously part of that, we understand that the airspace is closed and there are no options and that's why an evacuation, once an evacuation starts under operation Ganga it is done at the government of India's cost. The number 12,000 is a good estimate because we started around 20,000, 19,000 something, we estimate its 8,000 and maybe that's a good number. But again, these are estimates who knows exact list. In fact, and that's actually our problem. Going to Madhurendra question

No I think Madhurendra ji pooch rahe the na abhi is Question ke baare mein ki kitane Student load hai, par kahana mushkil hai, ye saara anuman hai, 12,000 hai 12,000 border pay to nahin hain 1,000 ho sakta hai kisi border pe ho, kisi men do hon, pahale us din sun rahe the ki Poland border mein koi 2-3 hazar log hain. kahana mushkil hai ki kyonki woh bhi abhi Move karate rahate hai par jaisa mainne kaha ki hamara focus ye hai ki woh kahin rahen shelter mein, or dheere-dheere small group mein layen ek flight mein 200-250 log aate hai toh aise karke nikaal lenge, aapne 4 points ki baat ki thee panchava to Moldova hai, par Moldova bhi fir Bucharest mein jayega to entry point 5 ho gaye hai par ghum ke flight points 4 hi rahe. kitana samay lagega abhi kahana mushkil hai, hamane pahale socha tha ki border say asani se nikal payenge per itane saare log hain, to jitana bhi time lage hum har nagrik ko laayenge wapas jo yahaan aana chahta hai yahaan vapis. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) No I think Madhurendra ji was asking about the question of how much student load is there. But it's difficult to say, it's all estimated that there are 12,000; 12,000 are not on the borders. There may be 1,000 on a border, there may be 2000 at some. Earlier that day, we were hearing that there are about 2-3 thousand people in the Poland border. It's difficult to say that because they also keep moving, but as I said, our focus is to make them stay somewhere in the shelter, and gradually bring them into the small group. 200-250 people can come in a flight, and can be taken out. You talked about 4 points. The fifth is Moldova, but Moldova will also go to Bucharest again, so the entry points have become 5, but the flight points remain 4. It is difficult to say how long it will take, we had earlier thought that we will be able to get out of the border easily, but there are so many people, so whatever time it takes, we will bring back every citizen who wants to come here.

Meghna you asked about Poland Warsaw flights. Look Poland, Warsaw is not the same thing in the sense Warsaw is the capital if need be we will look at other options somewhere in Poland but yes Warsaw is a little faraway, but if we can get them to Warsaw, Warsaw otherwise, even nearby airport. Similarly, from Slovakia, the Slovakia airport is not that large. It could be Vienna, it could be Budapest, these decisions will be taken. Let me answer Srinjoy question, I don't think there was any indication that our teams will go into Kharkiv, no. I think the Moscow or the Embassy of India sent a team as I remember clearly Foreign Secretary mentioned yesterday, which went to the border areas within Russia to see the possibility of evacuation routes as and when the situation permits, there is an alive and active conflict zone, it is not the same as it is in the Western Ukraine. So it is not feasible immediately to look at you know, just going inside there. But yes, distance wise it is much closer and as and when or if and when a situation arises that we are able to pull them out from that site, we're exploring possibilities and keeping plans ready. That should answer your other question. What's happening on the Moscow border? Nothing, it's a conflict zone and obviously our people cannot go, nobody can go in fact one of the reasons our students are still stuck in Kharkiv, particularly in Kharkiv because there is Kiev there is better news of movement today with the trains. I also heard in Kharkiv there are trains as I walked in, but I don't know if that's true. If you heard anything. I hope that is the easiest way of coming out to the West. At the end of it all the routes are to the west and not to the east. So maybe that would be the easiest. Okay, let me take next round of questions. I saw a lot of hands. Sidhant.

Sidhant:Sir my question is regarding any humanitarian aid planned to be given to Ukraine. Today there was a briefing by the Ukrainian envoy as well as he mentioned that he requested the Indian Foreign Secretary yesterday during his meeting of such kind of requests.

Kallol:I was told by the ambassador that Indian Foreign Secretary has promised that this request will be processed very quickly, can you please confirm that.

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson:Processing or the answer of it?

Kallol: No the processing.

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: We can quickly process it. Please ma'am.

Kavita:Sir mein Kavita hoon Haribhoomi Newspaper se, Sir mai 2 chijen aapse puchhana chahti hoon ki ek baar jaisa Afghanistan se hamane Rescue operation kiya tha Operation Devi Shakti, uss mein humne Military Aircraft ka jyada use kiya tha Indian Air Force ke. To yahaan par uss operation mein Military Aircraft ko humane kyon nahi use kiya aur agar jarurat padti hai to kya hum Indian Air-force ki madad lenge, un ki flights ka use karenge or doosra ye to abhi aapne jo bataya ki Ukraine se lagi hui jitani bhi hamari border countries hai, jahaan se hum apne logon ko la rahe hain vahan per sabse jyada mushkil hamen kahaan par a rahe hain, sabse jyada log kahan pay ikattha ho rahen hain, kahaan dikkat hai hamein? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) I'm Kavita from Haribhoomi newspaper, Sir, I want to ask you 2 things - one as we did a rescue operation from Afghanistan, Operation Devi Shakti, in that we used more of the military aircraft of the Indian Air Force. So why didn't we use the military aircraft in the operation here and if the need arises, will we take the help of the Indian Air Force, use their flights and secondly, what you have just said is that all border countries with Ukraine, from where we are bringing our people, where is the most difficulty being faced from? Where are the most people gathering, where are we having problems?

Akhilesh Suman:Akhilesh Suman from Sansad TV. There is huge crowd on the borders as you told. So are we making special facility for Indians to go inside these neighbouring countries? Or are we getting any type of support in immigration, Ukrainian side?

Sanjeev Trivedi:Sanjeev Trivedi News24 se, aapne saari baaten jo abhi tak batai hain, wo unki hai jo borders pay pahunch gaye hain ya pahunchane vale hain, lekin hamare bahut se chhatra abhi bhi Conflict Zone mein hain aur unake shikayat bhare Videos, I am sure aap tak bhi pahunche honge to unake liye kya kar rahe hai? kyonki unake mata-pita pareshaan hai, wo khud vahan pareshan hai or Conflict Zone mein unake lie nikal kar ke train pakadna ya kahin bhi jaana mushkil hai to kya Embassy k taraf se unake lie kuchh ho raha hai? or ek issi se juda hua prashn hai ki aapne air-bubble khatm kiya 18 tarikh ko 15 tarikh ko apane pehla advisory jari kiya ap air-bubble pehale khatm nahi kiye, uske pehle advisory jari kar diya ki aap chale aaiye to bhid to honi thee. (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Sanjeev Trivedi from News24, all the things that you have said so far are for those who have reached the borders or are about to reach, but many of our students are still in the conflict zone and their complaining videos, I am sure, must have reached you too. So what are you doing for them? Because their parents are upset, they themselves are upset and it is difficult for them to go in the conflict zone to catch a train or go anywhere, so is any assistance being provided to them from the Embassy's side? And there's a related question that you finished the air-bubble on the 18th, issued the first advisory on the 15th. You didn't finish the air-bubble first, you first issued an advisory that if possible you can leave, then there had to be a crowd.

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Sidhant and Kallol I think both of you asked on the assistance. Yes, I can confirm that at the request of the Ambassador of Ukraine we will be sending humanitarian assistance to Ukraine including medicines which they have requested. I don't have any additional details at this moment as I said it's just been requested, we will process it, we will share more as we go ahead.

Kavita Ji aapane poochha tha military aircraft ke baare mein. Dekhiye Afghanistan mein use hua tha lekin Foreign Secretary ne kal ya jo pichhli baar jo kaha bilkul hamaare air force hamesha isamein involved rehte hain, to whole of Government approach hai, vo taiyaar hai aur mai kah nahin sakata ki kab use karenge ya nahin karenge, par jaroorat pade to ham bilkul military aircraft indian air force ka sahaayata hamesha vo raha hai aur lenge bhee. Afghanistan bagal mein hai, to kuchh different hai, ab Europe mein, aur ye us shahar mein nahin hai, aur kisi shahar mein. Par air force ready hai aur jaroorat pade to ham use karenge. Abhee to hamaara jaisa main kah raha tha problem aircrafts ki nahin hai abhi, abhi hai ki log nikal lein taaki, aircraft to har roj ham do-do bhej sakte hain, kya dikkat hai, par vahee hai ki abhee focus hai ki vo border cross kar lein. Par aap theek kah raheen hai ki ho sakata hai ki aisa samay aaye ki hamein aur aircraft badhaane paden ya koi aisa runway ya koi kuchh ho jahaan pe aircraft, par abhi main usko confirm nahin kar sakata kyokee hamaara jo plan hai agale 24 ghante ka uss mein to maine commercial aircraft ki baat ki hai. Aur kahaan pe mushkilen aa rahee hai, dekhiyen ye kahana mushkil hai, jahaan pe bhee bahut si taadaad mein log aa jaate hai, sirph hamaare students nahin, ye mai kah raha hoon Ukrainian, hamaare to sirph 1000 - 2000 log hai. Ukrainian do laakh ke upar pahunch gaye the Poland border mein. Wahaan nahin ja pae to ab phir Romania border mein aa gaye. Ho sakta hai kal vo ye sab sun ke vo Hungary border mein log pahunch jaen. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Kavita ji, you had asked about Military Aircraft. See, it was used in Afghanistan, but what the Foreign Secretary said yesterday or last time, our Air Force is always involved in this, so there is a whole of Government approach, it is ready and I cannot say when we will use it or not, but if needed, we have always been and will always take the help of Military Aircraft of Indian Air Force. Afghanistan is close by, things are different, now it is Europe, and it's not in that city, it's in some other city. But the Air Force is ready and we will use it if needed. Right now, as I was saying, our problem is not with aircraft, it is that we want people should leave. We can send two aircraft every day, what is the problem, but the same is the focus right now that that they should cross the border. But you are right that maybe a time may come that we will have to increase more aircraft or if there is such a runway or something, I cannot confirm it on the aircraft right now because the next 24 hours of our plan is already there where I talked about commercial aircraft. And see where the difficulties are coming, it is difficult to say, where too many people come, not only our students, I am saying this for Ukrainians, we have only 1000 - 2000 people. Ukrainians had reached in over two lakh numbers at the Poland border. If you could not go there, then now you will come again to the Romania border. Maybe tomorrow after hearing all this, those people will reach the Hungarian border.

Somebody asked me about support etc., Akhilesh Ji you were asking. Look we have received lot of support from all the neighbouring countries. The problem is not on that aspect. It's only the immigration points on the exit from Ukraine where the problem is, I think our neighbouring countries have been very helpful and our Prime Minister, our External Affairs Minister, Foreign Secretary, other people have all been talking and they've been allowed Visa free entry, they've been moving, they've given support in terms of organizing shelters. So I think that part is going well and I think with our Ministers and special envoys going there it will become even better, I think that will help.

Sanjay Trivedi Ji aap pooch rahe the Conflict zone or air bubble ye to do sawal aapke the na. Dekhiye conflict zone ka yahi dikkat rehta hai. Aap ne achchha kiya, aap ne kaha ki conflict zone hai such men ye conflict zone hai. Uss ka ye matlab hota hai ki us se aap ko hani pahunch sakti hai, matlab aap mar bhi sakte hain. Aap dekh rahe hain ki ye war hai toh uss mein fir decision lena padta hai, individual hi le paaega ki hum bahar ayen, ruke rahen, bunkers men rahen. Aab hum toh chahte hain ki jaldi se jaldi se nikal jayen per hum aisa bhi nahi chahte hain ki nikalane ke raste men un ko or kshati pahunche ya fir unko aise khatre k situation mein pahunch jayen vo. Aab ye Decision main general kah nahin sakta hun ,vahan pay hamari Embassy, vahan ke University ke log, us shahar ki kya curfew hai, kahaan pay ladai ho rahi hai, see Ukraine bada desh hai, aisa nahin bahut chhota hai. Dekhiye kuchh-kuchh jaise Kiev may ladai ho rahi thi, par aaj kah rahe hain ki curfew band hone ke baad trains chal rahi hai toh nikal ayenge log. Kharkiv mein agar train chal rahi hai, log nikall ayenge per han itni duri hai ki paidal jaane ki baat nahin hai to jab tak situation normalize na ho, hamein dekhna padega ki kis tarah se unko best tarah se safe rakha jaye or jaise hi opportunity ho ashwasan ye dena chahta hoon ki hum bilkul vahan hamare matlab focus hain uss pe, hamari nazar laga hua ki aise log hain vahan pe or hum continue karenge hamari puri efforts hai ki woh jaldi - jaldi se nikal aayen. Aap ne Air-Bubble ke baare mein baat ki dekhiye isamein kuchh confusion hai Ukraine se bahut sari flights hai aap Air-Bubble ki baat kar rahe hai jo bilateral-direct wali hain Ukraine se bahut log aaye hain jo tisre mulk se bhi ayen hai, Qatar se hon ya kisi aur se. hamane Advisory jari ki thi graded key, pahale laga ke itana serious nahin, par jab serious hua, hamane kaha nikal jaaiye, kafi log nikal bhi gaye. To isamen air bubble or advisory ka link, hamein jaise laga ke bahut or chahiye directly ana hai to hamane fir baat ki or air bubble ki jo Limit thi wo bhi hata dee aab yahi dikkat rehti hai Covid ke chakkar mein, ye limits lagaai gayi thi ab Covid kam ho gaya hai, ye hatai gayi hain limits, aab toh aur bhi badh gayi hai flights or hum jari rakhenge isko. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) Sanjay Trivedi, yes, you were asking about the conflict zone and the air bubble, these were the two questions you had raised. See, that's the problem with the conflict zone. You said well, you said there is a conflict zone. It's really a conflict zone. It means that it can harm you, which means you can even die. You are seeing that this is the war, then one has to take a decision again, only the individual will be able to take that on when to come out, where to stay, stay in the bunkers. Now we want to get them out as soon as possible. But we don't even want them to be further affected on the way out or that they should get into a dangerous situation. Now I can't generally comment on this decision, there is our Embassy, the people of the university there, whether there is curfew or not in that city, whether the fight is taking place, See Ukraine is a big country, it is not small. See, there was fighting going in Kiev, but today they are saying that after the relaxing of the curfew, the trains are running, people will come out. If the train is running in Kharkiv, people will come out. But yes, it's so far away that walking should be avoided. So, unless the situation is normalized, we have to see how to keep them safe in the best possible way and as soon as there is an opportunity, I want to assure that we are absolutely there, we are keeping a watch on such people there and we will continue. Our whole effort is to get them out as soon as possible. You talked about the air bubble, there is some confusion in it. There are a lot of flights from Ukraine. You're talking about air bubbles that are bilateral-direct. Many people have come from Ukraine who have also come via a third country, Qatar or else. We had issued an advisory, initially in a graded manner, at first it seemed that it was not so serious, but when the serious things happened, we said you should leave, a lot of people left. So in this, the link of air bubble and advisory - as we felt that we need a lot more people to come directly, so we talked again and removed the limit of the air bubble. Now this is the problem, in the time of Covid, these limits were imposed. Now that Covid has been reduced, these limits have been removed. Now the flights have increased and we will continue to do so. Okay. Last round questions.

Neeraj: Sir, News 18 India se bahut sare chhatron ke aise video dekhe ja rahe hai jisame unki shikayat hai ki bharatiya dutavas mein koi call attend nahi kar raha hai, koi adhikari call attend nahi kar raha hai, to ek to woh phanse huye hai, jab stheeti theek hogi, khud se bahar nikal payenge ki nahi woh tay karenge lekin calls kyon nahi attend ho rahe hain uss se unka panic jo hai woh badh raha hai (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate translation) Sir, from News 18 There are videos of a lot of students from India in which they have complained that no one is attending phone calls in the Indian Embassy. No officer is attending calls. So one is that they are stuck, when the situation is fine, they will be able to come out themselves, but why the calls are not being attended, they are getting panicked.

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Anybody else? Yes, please.
Abhinashu:I'm Abhinashu I represent the New India. Sir you mentioned about the civilian airlines and the military aircraft. So we just experienced the evacuation from Afghanistan in August. What are the other challenges, the new challenges we are facing right now for the evacuees. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Well the situation in Kharkiv is very serious, even during the peace talks they are shelling going on. So do you have any record of how many Indian students are there because the Embassy is saying that the largest number of Indian students are in Kharkiv so are you in touch with them? because it's really an emergency situation. Right?

Speaker 2: Mera sawal Kharkiv se juda hua hai, ki wahan ke jo halat hain, usko kaise aap read kar rahen hain, kitne bachche wahan fasen hue or kya Russia ke border ko hum istemaal karenge wahan se bachchon ko nikalane ke liye? (Questioned in Hindi; Approximate translation) My question is related to Kharkiv, how are you handling the situation there. How many children are stuck there and will we use the border of Russia to get the children out of there?

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson:Let me answer this other challenges thing first, Abhinashu that you have mentioned. Look, I don't think the situations can be compared. Afghanistan was in a different scenario this is a different scenario. The flights in Afghanistan were going into Kabul, we're pulling out. I'm talking about operation Ganga vs Devi Shakti. There the flights were coming out of Kabul, here the flights are coming out from normal civilian airports in countries which are not in conflict. So our focus here is, our difficulties here are, actually getting our students out of Ukraine from conflict zone and not so conflict zones. The flight is not the problem currently. In Afghanistan the focus was how to even get the flights and how to get people to the flights, similar problem in some ways, but different in many ways. I wouldn't like to talk about another operation. Let's just focus on what we have.

Speaker 1: (.......Inaudible)

Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: The flights are from the four countries. So flights have nothing to do with Ukraine. You agree? So what is your query then? Foreign Minister spoke to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Prime Minister spoke to President Zelenskyy, I'm not sure what query you have and there are communications, that our embassy is there, people on the border are there, teams which are communicating I assure you communication is not the issue.

Do ek Kharkiv ke baare mein tha. Aur Neeraj poochh rahe the about no response to calls. Dekhiye neeraj jee hamaaree yeh koshish rahee hai, pichhale saath aath din mein ki aap dekh rahen honge ki badhaaya jaaye hamaari capacity phone calls ki. Pehle hamne jaldee se jo bheja tha, sabako cell phone diya tha directly cell phone mein . Par ek saath agar 50 log phone call karen cell phone main to 49 logon ko busy milega. Lagega ki hamen jawab nahin diya. Aur unko bhee kaam karna hota hai us samay, to hamne fir control rooms chaaloo kiya. Hamare yahaan par bhee hain. Hamne control rooms chaaloo kiye Embassy ke bhee oopar pressure hai. Par main aapko kehana chaahata hoon, aashvaashan bhee dena chaahata hoon, Jo phone kar rahe hai, ki ham log badha rahe hain hamare capacity control rooms ki, aap bephikr rahiye ki log vahaan par 24 x 7 answer karne ki koshish kar rahe hain. Hmare Embassy apne hi conflict zone mein hain, par tab bhi respond kar rahe hain. But log jo phone karte hain, aapane theek hee kaha unko thoda panic hota hai ki hamaare saath nahin hai, isiliye humne whatsapp channels bhi open kiye hain, e-mails bhi open kiye hain aur abhee twitter ka bhee kiya hai. Aur jo hamen contact kar rahe hain ham kisee na kisee tarah se unko atleast call back ya message kar rahe hain ki aap rahen vahaan, panic mat karein, jitna kar sakte hain ham karenge, jitni jaldee ho sakta hai aap ko nikaalane ki koshish karenge. To kuchh aisa na sochen ki hamare calls mein response nahin ho rahe hain, hamare saare call centers ke saare number functional hain. Agar koee kharaab ho gaya hai number, hamen bata deejiega. Par sab log lage hue hain aur jaisa mainne kaha hamaare jyaada aphsar bheje ja rahe hain, officials bheje ja rahe hain taaki hamaara capacity response badh jaye. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) One was about Kharkiv. And Neeraj was asking for no response to calls. See Neeraj ji, there has been our effort, in the last eight days, you must be seeing that our capacity of phone calls have increased. Earlier, what we had shared quickly were the cell phone details. But if 50 people make phone calls simultaneously, then 49 people will get busy and it looks like we haven't replied. And they also have to work at that time and attend call as well, so we again started the control rooms. We have one here too. We have started the control rooms and there is pressure on the embassy too. But I want to tell you, I also want to give assurance to those who are calling that we are increasing our capacity of control rooms, do not worry, that people are trying to answer 24 x 7 there. Our embassy itself is in conflict zone, but still responding. But people who call, you said rightly, they are in panic that they are not with us, so we have also opened WhatsApp channels, have also opened e-mails and now are on twitter also. And those who are contacting us, we are somehow atleast giving call back or message to them that you stay there, don't panic, we will do as much as we can, as soon as possible we will try to get you out. So do not think that our calls are not being responded, our all call center numbers are functional. If any number has gone out of order, let us know. But everyone is engaged and as I said, more officers are being sent, officials are being sent so that our capacity response increases.

On Kharkiv, Kallol asked, aur aapne poochha tha, kitane log hain is very difficult to say, pahale kuchh hamare pass anuman the, you know (Answered in Hindi; Approximate Translation) and you asked, how many people are there, it is very difficult to say, first some of the guesses we had, you know, we had an estimate based on registration but I don't know if that's correct. Nobody will be able to tell you, one good thing is there are lots of student agents, student contractors, so we are getting some sense. I won't like to give a number that I'm not sure of. So let me not just mention that Kallol right now, how many exactly. But let's see how it opens up, how many have been able to leave once we know that so once we are able to reduce the total numbers already down to about 12,000 or so from about 20. If it comes down a few more 1000 in the next two three days, then we can focus more on that. It can't be too many. I don't think the story that the largest number of people are in Kharkiv this probably is not correct because now they are on the western side. Many people have moved. Whoever could move in right time has moved to the West. In Kharkiv City, I don't know many of them are in universities around that region, somewhere in Zaporizhzhia which is South even Dnieper river there were lots of cities, so we don't know exactly anymore, but that's why I'm saying when they contact us after saying we have reached this point, let's say I've reached Chernivtsi or we have reached Lviv or we have reached Uzhhorod then we are able to understand how many are waiting outside the borders.

Aap poochh rahe the ki kya ho sakata hai. Jaisa maine kaha hamari koshish jaaree hai conflict jab tak chale, options hamare paas limited hain. Kal Foreign Secretary ne kaha ki hamne Red cross se bhee baat kee hai vah bhee wait kar rahe hain jaise hee conflict mein rukaavat ho ya pause ho ya kuchh humanitarian options hon to Red cross bhee involve hoti hai aisee cheejon mein. Ham closely monitor kar rahe hain. Jaisa mauka mila kuchh assistance denge par conflict mein kabhee-kabhee it is better to stay safe par ham samajh sakte hain unakee peeda, weh baithe hue hain andar bunker mein aur jitnii jaldi ho sakega ham try karenge. (Answered in Hindi; Approximate translation) You were asking what else could happen. Like I said we are trying our best, and as long as the conflict continues, we have limited options. Yesterday, the Foreign Secretary said that we have also talked to the Red Cross, they are also waiting as soon as there is an interruption or pause in the conflict or if there are some humanitarian options, then the Red Cross is also involved in such things. We are monitoring closely. We will give some assistance as opportunity comes up but in conflict sometimes it is better to stay safe, but we can understand their pain, they are sitting inside bunker and we will try to take them out as soon as possible.

I think that I will come to a close on this. Thank you very much for your presence here today. The large numbers indicate enormous interest in this. My last comment would be - there are a lot of unverified social media stories going around. Now that social media is a very useful tool to tell us what's happening where, but sometimes unverified stories create panic. So please be careful before giving or retweeting, given that. Okay. Thank you very much.

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