Interacting with students who returned from Ukraine, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday claimed that “such a successful and systematic operation” to evacuate Indian citizens was never undertaken in the past.
He said it was due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "personal" relations with Ukraine's neighbouring countries, including Romania and Hungary, that these countries had opened their borders only to Indian citizens, which led to the safe return of students.
In a meeting with 52 students evacuated from Ukraine and their parents at his official residence, 5, Kalidas Marg, the chief minister said it is only because of their faith in the Narendra Modi government that their safe return has been possible.
"Citizens of other countries trapped in Ukraine are forced to return home at their own expense but the Indian government is bringing back its citizens at the government’s expense. Never before had such a successful and so systematic return operation been done, as it is happening today," Chief Minister Adityanath said.
The chief minister said a total of 2,397 students of Uttar Pradesh are pursuing medical and other courses in Ukraine.
Of them, 1,400 students have been brought back safely till Saturday evening, he said.
"The government is trying to bring back the remaining 1,000 children. Some people are coming today. Instructions have been given to every district magistrate of the state to meet the parents of the children returning from Ukraine and resolve their problems," he said.
The chief minister also interacted with the students present during the event. He said Prime Minister Modi is holding regular meetings on the issue and has also held talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and other people concerned.
"Our embassies in all the countries adjacent to Ukraine, are actively working by staying on the border," he said.
"The first goal of the government is to bring back all the students safely from Ukraine. We will plan about the future of their studies after that in the second phase. Both the Indian government and the State government are in dialogue,” CM said, asking students to continue revising their syllabus at home.
Accusing the previous governments of the State of not paying attention to the medical education sector, Chief Minister Adityanath said, "The reason you people had to go to Ukraine for medical studies is that the attention that should have been paid to the medical infrastructure after independence was not given. The country became independent in the year 1947 and till 2017, in 70 years, only 12 medical colleges were opened in Uttar Pradesh but between 2017 and 2022 we have opened 33 new medical colleges,” Mr Adityanath said.
He also said the cost of education in Ukraine ranges from ₹20 to 30 lakh rupees.
"About ₹2 crore is spent in the US and Britain but if you study in a government medical college in India, it will cost only ₹4 to 5 lakh. AIIMS, Gorakhpur and Rae Bareli have been made operational and out of the 35 medical colleges, including AIIMS, that have been built, 17 have been made operational," the chief minister said.
