Of 28 students in Ukraine, 6 return home safely in Nawanshahr

Nawanshahr, March 7

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There were tears of joy and relief in the eyes of Sumit Puri’s father after he reached home safely last evening. Sumit’s father Sandeep Puri, who runs a medical store in Nawanshahr, said these were happy moments not only for him but for all parents meeting their children who had returned home safely from war-ravaged Ukraine.

A fourth-year MBBS student at Kharkiv, Sumit (22) shared details of the tough circumstances he had gone through amid a continuous heavy strike by the Russian forces. “We had no food, water or shelter. We slept in the open in the minus temperature at the Poland border. The Indian embassy people were not taking calls, even at the border checkpoint they were not responding, it was a hell like situation,” he said.

Another student Kajal, a sixth-year MBBS student at Kharkiv, who hails from Balachaur, said she went to Ukraine on February 16, and if she had the little idea that the tensions between Russia and Ukraine would result in a war, she would have never gone back. “There was non-stop shelling and bombardment there. We had limited food and water, but we managed to leave Kharkiv as the situation was getting out of control. We took a sigh of relief after reaching the Poland border from where the Indian authorities made all necessary arrangements, including food, boarding, lodging etc and finally brought us to New Delhi,” she said.

Meanwhile, of the total 28 Nawanshahr residents, including students stranded in Ukraine whose families had registered themselves with the district helpline, six have returned home safely till Monday. The majority of them have reached the borders of neighbouring countries of Ukraine and are in touch with their families.

The district administration officials said the teams led by SDMs, tehsildars/naib tehsildars had visited the families of all the stranded residents of the district, adding that they are constantly in touch with them and the MEA regarding the evacuation process and safe repatriation.