New Delhi: On the seventh day of the ongoing evacuation drive of Indian nationals from Ukraine, another batch of 160 students of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana returned to Delhi and Mumbai on Friday.
According to a report by news agency IANS, 94 students of Telangana and 66 of Andhra Pradesh landed in Delhi and Mumbai after which the officials of the respective state governments helped them reach their destinations.
The Telangana-bound students arrived in the two Indian cities by 16 flights that took off from the neighbouring countries of Ukraine that include Bucharest (Romania), Budapest (Hungary), Rzeszow (Poland), Kocise (Slovakia) and Suceava (Romania).
With the current batch of evacuees, a total of 354 people have returned to Telangana since February 26.
Telangana government had made all arrangements to receive the students at Delhi and Mumbai airports, and also booked air tickets from these cities to Hyderabad.
Gaurav Uppal, Resident Commissioner, Telangana Bhavan and Additional DGP, Intelligence, Anil Kumar also spoke to the evacuees in Telangana Bhavan.
Meanwhile, with the return of 66 Andhra students, the total returnees to the southern state reached 270 on Friday. On their arrival, the Andhra government booked air tickets by connecting flights to Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Hyderabad and Bangalore from Delhi and Mumbai.
The Andhra government officials also received the returnees at Tirupati, Vijayawada and other airports, and also made arrangements for the journey to their respective hometowns.
Venkat Medapati, Andhra Pradesh government's advisor on NRI affairs, who is currently in Budapest, have met a few local association volunteers of Andhra and Telangana, the embassy coordinators and few students from the trouble-torn country.
Things have streamlined over the last two days, Medapati said, adding, “There are only two flights per day from tomorrow. Hope the embassy will arrange more flights over the next few days like today based on the surge in numbers at the border,” as quoted by IANS.
Notably, eighty more students from Andhra Pradesh are likely to arrive on Saturday.