Questioning the Centre as to why so much time was being taken to bring back the Indian students stuck in war-hit Ukraine, chief minister Mamata Banerjee today, yet again, urged the central government to arrange adequate flights to expedite the process.
Taking to Twitter, Miss Banerjee wrote: “I am very much worried about the lives of the Indian students held up in Ukraine. Life is very precious. Why is it taking so much time to bring them back? Why was not things done earlier?” “I urge the central government that adequate number of flights be arranged immediately and all the students brought back as soon as possible,” she further wrote.
Miss Banerjee’s appeal comes a day after she targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on India’s effort to evacuate Indians stuck in Ukraine. She accused the central government of “not doing anything” for the stranded Indian students. Addressing a rally organised by the Samajwadi Party in Varanasi on Thursday, Miss Banerjee had alleged that the central government is asking Indians to come back on their own.
She said, “If you (Modi) have such good relations with Putin Ji (Russian president), then you must have known about the attack three months in advance. Why didn’t the government do anything then? And now the government tells Indians to come back on their own. Many are stuck in bunkers without food facing a threat to life.”
The state had set up a special 12-hour control room on February 25 to help students and people from the state currently stranded in Ukraine. A notice issued by the state information and cultural affairs department said, “It has been opened under a senior IAS officer and manned by WBCS officers for assisting and helping students and people stranded from West Bengal in Ukraine.”