The State Government is committed to bringing back the body of Naveen Gyanagoudar, who was killed in the Ukraine war, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Umesh Katti said in Belagavi on Sunday.
He was speaking after receiving Brahmi Patil, a medical student who returned to Belagavi from war-torn Ukraine at the Sambra Airport.
Naveen’s body is not missing. It is kept intact in Ukraine. It will be brought back. We are sure Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai are working hard towards it. We are confident of getting it,” Mr. Katti said.
The Minister said that Operation Ganga has successfully evacuated 15,000 students till now, which is half of the total number of students from the country stuck in Ukraine. “The rest will be brought back in two-three weeks. The Prime Minister has deputed Ministers and senior officers to bring students back. They will be back safely,’’ he said.
He said that the focus of the government is on rescuing students and not to react to criticism by Congress leaders to Operation Ganga. “I will not react about it now,” he said.
Brahmi Patil, a student from Chikkodi, said that the student community was shocked at the sudden escalation of hostilities. “We booked our flight tickets on February 24. But flights were cancelled after bombing started. We took shelter in a bunker and lived there for nearly two weeks. We came to the border by train and left Romania by flight,’’ she said.
She urged the Union Government to airlift all Indian students stranded in Ukraine.
