Telangana offers to pay for evacuation of students stranded in Ukraine

Hyderabad, Feb 25 (IANS) The government of Telangana on Friday offered to bear full travel expenses of students from Telangana stranded in Ukraine.

State Minister for Industries and Information Technology K. T. Rama Rao urged the central government to arrange for special aircraft to bring the students home.

He made an appeal to Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar on the plight of students from the state stranded in Ukraine.

"We appeal to Govt of India to arrange for special aircrafts & Telangana Govt is ready to bear the full travel expenses for these students so we can bring them home safe & soonest," tweeted Rama Rao.

Earlier, responding to a tweet by a relative of one of the 20 students stranded in Ukraine, the state minister requested the Indian embassy in Ukraine to reach out to them.

One Epuri Raghavendra tweeted that 20 Telangana students, including his brother, are waiting for help in Vinnytsia. He wrote that students are very scared and helplines in Ukraine are not responsive. They disconnected the call by saying present location of students is very faraway for help.

The Telangana government has set up helplines at Telangana Bhavan New Delhi and State Secretariat Hyderabad to help the students and citizens of the state who are stranded in Ukraine.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Friday held a teleconference with the Principal Secretary, General Administration, Vikas Raj and Resident Commissioner Telangana Bhavan Gaurav Uppal and took stock of the situation.

The helplines have so far received 75 calls. The chief secretary said that the state government is in constant touch with the External Affairs ministry, Government of India and taking all steps to ensure the safety and security of the Telangana people. Efforts are also being made to ensure that all the stranded persons are evacuated and they reach the state safely, he said.