By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Mar: Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, who currently is acting Chief Secretary as Chief Secretary SS Sandhu is on leave, today instructed all the District Magistrates, through video conferencing at the Secretariat, to establish contact with the families of students and other citizens of Uttarakhand in Ukraine. Meanwhile, 9 more students have managed to return to the country today.
In a video conference, held with the District Magistrates, today, she said that information about the current location of the citizens and students of Uttarakhand trapped in Ukraine should also be given to the government and the resident commissioner’s office in Delhi from time to time, so that all information could be communicated to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) expeditiously. She said that information was also being obtained from the Indian Embassies in the countries bordering Ukraine.
So far, information about 282 people from Uttarakhand had been received, who were stranded in Ukraine and its adjoining countries. Out of these, 33 have returned home safely, so far.
Raturi added that 3 WhatsApp groups had been formed linking the mobile numbers of students trapped in Ukraine and their families living in Uttarakhand, with which all senior officials were also connected. District level officials are personally in constant contact with these families. With the joint efforts of the Government of India and the State Government, efforts are being made to bring everyone back safely.
Radha Raturi said that coordination centres had been set up in Delhi and Mumbai for the people of Uttarakhand coming from Ukraine on behalf of the state. Arrangements have been made for lodging and food for all the visitors. Arrangements have also been made by the state to bring them from Delhi to their destination. She said that whatever information was being received about the current location of the citizens of Uttarakhand coming from Ukraine, should be exchanged expeditiously so that the information could be sent to the resident commissioner’s office and MEA in time.
She further directed all the district magistrates that, on the basis of the data received, a team should be sent to the citizens of Uttarakhand stranded in Ukraine and its adjoining countries or their families who could not be contacted yet. Nodal officers have been deployed at district and tehsil level to bring back all the citizens of Uttarakhand from Ukraine safely and to establish better coordination. All arrangements are being made by the government, administration and police with mutual coordination. Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman has been sent to New Delhi as nodal officer for better coordination by the Uttarakhand Government.
Raturi said that the State Disaster Operation Centre had been activated at the state level to bring back the people of Uttarakhand trapped in Ukraine safely and to know about their present location. At this centre, the information received from all the districts and information department would be given to the RC’s office and MEA.
Additional Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan, ADG, Intelligence, Sanjay Gunjyal, Secretary SA
Murugesan, Vinod Kumar Suman, DIG, Intelligence, Nivedita Kukreti, Additional Secretary Sonkar, all District Magistrates and ARC Ajay Mishra were present at the meeting through virtual medium.
