Jagan takes up stranded Telugu students' cause with MEA

Amaravati, Feb 25: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday spoke on telephone with the Minister of External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, seeking his support in the repatriation of Telugu students stranded in Ukraine.

Jaishankar told the Chief Minister that the Central government has been taking all possible measures to evacuate the students by relocating them to nearby countries and later shifting them to India.

Reddy urged the Union Minister to bring back the stranded students safely.

The Chief Minister also held a high-level meeting with state officials at his camp office to discuss the safe return of the stranded students.

During the meeting with the senior officials, the Chief Minister directed them to establish communication with everyone from the state and find out their well-being and take appropriate measures for their safety.

He also told them to provide necessary information to the Central government officials, especially the information received from the stranded people in Ukraine.

He instructed the authorities to evacuate people through special aircraft from the state if necessary.

Further, the Chief Minister directed authorities to set up control rooms at the district level and collect details of the stranded students.

State government officials are in constant touch with the Union Foreign Ministry and APNRTS for the safe return of Telugu students from Ukraine.

Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Chief Minister's Special Principal Secretary Jawahar Reddy, Chief Minister's Secretary Dhanunjay Reddy, AP Bhavan Principal Resident Commissioner Commissioner Praveen Prakash, Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Special Officer International Cooperation Jitesh Sharma were present at the meeting.

Later speaking to the media, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma said that the Chief Minister has been constantly reviewing the situation and taking steps to bring back the stranded students from Ukraine.

He said that helplines 48660460814, 48606700105, 1902, 8500027678 have been set up both in Ukraine and in Andhra Pradesh to assist the students and their parents.

He said that four teams were set up in the borders of Ukraine connecting Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania to airlift the students safely.