MK Stalin welcomes Tamil Nadu students home, evacuation completed, says MP

CHENNAI: Chief minister MK Stalin on Saturday welcomed 9 Tamil Nadu students evacuated from Ukraine by giving them flowers at the airport and a DMK MP, who led a panel to coordinate the evacuation of Tamil students said the mission to evacuate students belonging to the state is accomplished.

The Tamil Nadu government said that out of the 1,921 students from the state, 1,890 have returned from Ukraine so far. The remaining 31 have moved to 'safe zones' in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries and they were not interested in returning home, an official release said. Speaking to reporters at the airport, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva, when asked about 31 students opting to stay back in Ukraine and nearby countries said they gave several reasons like concerns over continuing their education and that the 'problem' would be over soon.

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"They say that they are safe and that they would take care." The Rajya Sabha MP, who led a high-level state panel to coordinate the evacuation of Tamil Nadu students with the Centre said no one could be compelled to return. The Siva-led panel, comprising officials and MP Kalanidhi Veeraswamy besides others, returned to Chennai along with the 9 students after camping in Delhi for days together. The ruling party Parliamentarian, answering a question said, "our (panel's) agenda was to evacuate Tamil students stranded in Ukraine and our mission is accomplished. Students have been safely brought home". The evacuees have concerns about the continuation of their educational programmes and the Chief Minister is seized of the matter and 'good things will happen, he said.

Siva said these 9 students have returned from Ukraine's Sumy and Kyiv. They belong to regions including Pudukottai, Karaikudi, Arakkonam, Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu and 1 student hailed from neighbouring Puducherry. As regards students brought home from Sumy, he said they were totally out of touch and had hidden in bunkers. About '500 dollars' was the bus fare to bring each student out of Sumy and they eventually reached Poland and travelled to India, he said. Such travel expense to move out of Ukraine was borne by both Tamil Nadu and the Union governments. Siva said that at a young age, the students went through a harrowing time in the war-scarred nation and they had no access to even food and water. The state government's efforts have sown the seeds of confidence in them, he said.

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The government in an official release said that the Chief Minister, right from the start of the conflict acted swiftly to bring home Tamil Nadu students. Listing Stalin's initiatives including liaising with the Centre, setting up a panel led by MP Siva which coordinated with external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Indian Embassies, the government recalled that 3 flights were chartered to bring students to Tamil Nadu from Delhi.

The government allocated Rs 3.50 crore for evacuation related work and had met the travel expense of nearly 200 students to move out of Ukraine. An exclusive control room was set up here and the Chief Minister also interacted with stranded students through a video call, which gave them a sense of confidence. The CM also had called on 4 students following their return from Ukraine. Minister of Minorities Welfare, Gingee K S Masthan and Health Minister Ma Subramanian accompanied Stalin at the airport and welcomed the students.