New Delhi: India has mounted a massive rescue operation named ‘Operation Ganga’ to bring back Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine. Ministry of External Affairs, in close coordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is making all efforts to bring the Indian students back to India at a fast pace. Indian Airlines are putting their resources in a faster evacuation process.
Four Union Ministers- Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, and Gen (Retd) V.K. Singh have gone to countries adjoining Ukraine to support and supervise these operations. Indian Civilian planes as well as Indian Air Force planes are regularly bringing back stranded Indian students.
The evacuation process, which began on 22nd February, has brought back over 6,200 persons so far, including 2,185 persons coming today through 10 special civilian flights. Today’s flights included 5 from Bucharest, 2 from Budapest, 1 from Kosice, and 2 from Rzeszow by Civilian airlines. In addition, 3 IAF flights are bringing more Indians today.
The number of civilian flights is being scaled up further, and more than 7,400 persons are expected to be brought through special flights in the next two days. 3,500 persons are expected to be brought back tomorrow and over 3900 on 5th March.
The tentative schedule of special flights for tomorrow is as below:
| Date | Airline | From | To | ETA | Inbound flights |
| 04.03.2022 | Air India Express | Bucharest | Mumbai | 06:20 | 1 |
| Air India Express | Budapest | Mumbai | 08:30 | 1 | |
| Air India | Bucharest | New Delhi | 10:05 | 1 | |
| SpiceJet | Kosice | New Delhi | 11:20:00,14:10 | 2 | |
| Indigo | Budapest | New Delhi | 04:40, 08:20 | 2 | |
| Indigo | Rzeszow | New Delhi | 08:20, 05:20, 06:20 | 3 | |
| Indigo | Bucharest | New Delhi | 02:30, 03:40, 04:40 | 3 | |
| Indigo | Suceava | New Delhi | 04:05,05:05 | 2 | |
| Vistara | Bucharest | New Delhi | 15:45 | 1 | |
| Go First | Budapest | New Delhi | 04:00 | 1 | |
Total Number of flights: 17
