Students in Ukraine: Helpline number flooded with calls

Jalandhar, February 25

Ever since this morning when the district administration released its helpline 0181-2224417 for collating database of the Jalandhar-based students stranded in Ukraine, the phone bell kept on ringing almost the whole day.

The staff from the Education Department, who had been assigned the task to handle the helpline number, said they had collected the details of 25 families of the city, who have their children studying in Ukraine and desperately need help to get them back.

The administration has been collecting details like student’s name, contact number, name of institute, city, passport number, father’s name, local address etc, which they said was being forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs via Punjab Government for immediate action.

Ever since the number was flashed on social media, it spread around everywhere and people from far off cities, not just of Punjab but parts of Haryana and even UP, kept on calling seeking help to get their children evacuated. “The phone bell has not stopped ringing even for five minutes when I was on duty in the day,” said Manjit Chawla, a government school teacher. Many local families had personally turned up to plead their case and handover a complete printed biodata of their children.

Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said this information had been readied to share it with the concerned authorities. He said the district administration had started compiling this information as a part of proactive measure even before any official communication reached them.

Meanwhile in Kapurthala, Minister for Technical Education Rana Gurjeet Singh has set up a special 24×7 helpline number for helping those stuck in Ukraine.

Rana said while the Union Government was already on the job, he had set up the dedicated number +919915900957 for those Punjabis who are living in Punjab and have relatives stuck in Ukraine. He said he had done so, since everyone cannot follow up the process with the Central Government on his own and he will be trying to facilitate the return.

Rana asked anyone in need of help to send the details of the person(s) stuck in Ukraine with the residential address there (in Ukraine) along with the phone number on the above mentioned number. He said he would ensure that the follow-up action is taken and those stuck are able to return home at the earliest.