Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is in Romania as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's envoy to secure a safe passage to Indians from war-hit Ukraine, on Wednesday said that 1300 students were sent from Bucharest via six flights.
India has been evacuating its citizens via special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut down since February 24.
To oversee the task, the prime minister has sent Union ministers to these countries. Petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri has been sent to Hungary, transport minister VK Singh is in Poland and aviation minister Scindia has been given the charge of evacuating students from Romania and Moldova. Law minister Slovakia is in Slovakia.
Speaking to media from Bucharest, Scindia said that there were over 3,000 students in Bucharest. Out of these, 1,300 were sent to New Delhi on Wednesday. Then there are students at the border in Seret, he said.
The Union minister said that he is tasked to 1) bring the students to borders; 2) enable crossing over; 3) bring them from border to site of embarkation; 4) safely send them home.
Scindia said that he said after reaching Bucharest at 10:30 PM on Tuesday, he held a meeting at the embassy at 2 AM to sort logistics for safely sending students home.
He said that they have outlined a strategy to set up a call centre and are also planning to assign a unique code to each student until their safe exit. This docket will then be given to the Ministry of External Affairs, Scindia said.
Earlier in the day, Scindia said he met Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuc to thank his government for facilitating entry and ensuring the safety of Indian citizens amid the "grim situation" at the Ukrainian borders.
Scindia said on Twitter the Romanian prime minister has assured his continued support to Indian students crossing the Romanian borders.
"We shared a mutual interest in expanding bilateral trade given the huge economic potential and presence of Indian businesses in Romania," he noted.
He also met with the Indian diaspora in Romania who were helping in making arrangements for students.
(With inputs from agencies)