In a development that would bring some relief to the parents of Naveen Gyanagoudar, who was killed in Ukraine, it has now been communicated that the mortal remains of Naveen have been secured, embalmed and kept in a mortuary on the outskirts Kharkiv.
Making this disclosure before presspersons after meeting Naveen’s parents at Chalageri village in Ranebennur taluk of Haveri district on Saturday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that External Affairs Minister Jaishankar had communicated this to him on Friday night and added that they were waiting for the shelling to stop so that the casket could be transported.
Mr. Bommai said that he was in continuous touch with the Union Minister and diplomats. “Now that ceasefire has been announced, it is an opportunity to get the body back and also rescue our stranded students. I will try to speak to Mr. Jaishankar on my return to Bengaluru about the bringing the body back. It all depends on the ground situation there,” he said.
“There are several Indian students stranded in the warzone. There are reports about our students reaching a safe zone around 30 km from Kharkiv. They have come on foot and transport arrangements are being made. There are some others who are stuck in a bunker in Kharkiv. The ceasefire is an opportunity to safely evacuate them,” he said.
Mr. Bommai said that from Haveri district, ten students had gone to Ukraine and five had returned.
Mr. Bommai said the government had given a compensation of ₹25 lakh to the family and would take steps to provide employment to Naveen’s brother Harsha, who was pursuing his research at present. It would be done after he completed his research, he said.
Larger issue
The CM said that the larger issue was that despite having merit, children were not able to pursue education in their chosen field in the country, which required serious thinking. “The Union Government is also thinking about the issue seriously. I have also discussed it with senior officials and Ministers. At the State level, we can only take steps towards providing financial assistance but any decision on the selection process and related issues has to be taken by the Centre. Our Central Ministers are also looking into the issue,” he said.
To a query on questions raised about NEET, he said that all those issues were also being looked into. But, presently the priority was to bring back the stranded students safely and getting the mortal remains back, he said.
Consoles
Earlier, accompanied by Sri Vachanananda Swami of Veerashaiva Lingayat Panchamasali Peetha, Harihar, Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil, and Shivakumar Udasi, MP, Mr. Bommai and consoled the family members and handed over a cheque of ₹25 lakh to Naveen’s father Shekharappa Gyanagoudar. He assured them that efforts were on to bring back the body at the earliest.
Earlier in the day, the CM had said in Bengaluru that all efforts were being made to bring back Naveen’s body from Ukraine.
Naveen, 21, who was pursuing fourth-year MBBS at Kharkiv National Medical University, was killed in shelling outside a store in the city when he stepped out to buy groceries before catching a train to Ukraine’s border on Tuesday.
Earlier in the week, BJP MLA Arvind Bellad had stoked a controversy by saying that evacuating a body was hard as more people can be accommodated on a plane in the space taken up by a body.
