After three months of uncertainty, 480 students from Maharashtra are set to return to Mumbai from Russia on a private charter Royal Flight Boeing 777 on Monday morning around 5 am.
The students said they tried to schedule their travel under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ but did not get any response. Therefore, they decided to pool in money and book a chartered flight.
“This is the first private chartered flight exclusively for students of Maharashtra. An earlier flight that carried students from Russia had students from different states. These students were stranded in Russia for the last three months,” said Shiv Sena leader Sainath Durge, who coordinated efforts with Valsa Nair Singh, principal secretary, civil aviation, Maharashtra, and the Ministry of External Affairs. Dr Nikesh Ranjan, director of Nix Tour India, who arranged the flight, said state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray intervened to expedite the permission process. “Because of ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ and Air India operations, private charters were not allowed. However, the DGCA permission came through three days ago. The Indian Embassy in Moscow coordinated very well and quickly with MEA and the state approvals were fast,” Ranjan told Mirror.
Each student had to pay $400, or Rs 30,400, for the private charter.
Danish Mistry, a 21-year-old finalyear student at North Ossetian State Medical Academy and resident of Bhayandar, told Mirror from Moscow that Indian students in Russia were a well-connected community.
“When we found that there was no response to our emails for ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, we thought of doing the charter. We started a chain and soon there were 480 of us,” said Danish, who is friends with the tour director, Ranjan.
Danish said that the last three months were spent in agony owing to uncertainty. “My family told me to come home. Cases were rising in Russia and it was a helpless situation. I simply can’t wait to get back,” he said.
He will complete the remainder of his course online as his university has given him the option.
The students were scheduled to board the six-hour flight from Moscow at 10.30 pm on Sunday. 13/07/20 Rahi Gaikwad/Mumbai Mirror
-----------------------------
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
The students said they tried to schedule their travel under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ but did not get any response. Therefore, they decided to pool in money and book a chartered flight.
“This is the first private chartered flight exclusively for students of Maharashtra. An earlier flight that carried students from Russia had students from different states. These students were stranded in Russia for the last three months,” said Shiv Sena leader Sainath Durge, who coordinated efforts with Valsa Nair Singh, principal secretary, civil aviation, Maharashtra, and the Ministry of External Affairs. Dr Nikesh Ranjan, director of Nix Tour India, who arranged the flight, said state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray intervened to expedite the permission process. “Because of ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ and Air India operations, private charters were not allowed. However, the DGCA permission came through three days ago. The Indian Embassy in Moscow coordinated very well and quickly with MEA and the state approvals were fast,” Ranjan told Mirror.
Each student had to pay $400, or Rs 30,400, for the private charter.
Danish Mistry, a 21-year-old finalyear student at North Ossetian State Medical Academy and resident of Bhayandar, told Mirror from Moscow that Indian students in Russia were a well-connected community.
“When we found that there was no response to our emails for ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, we thought of doing the charter. We started a chain and soon there were 480 of us,” said Danish, who is friends with the tour director, Ranjan.
Danish said that the last three months were spent in agony owing to uncertainty. “My family told me to come home. Cases were rising in Russia and it was a helpless situation. I simply can’t wait to get back,” he said.
He will complete the remainder of his course online as his university has given him the option.
The students were scheduled to board the six-hour flight from Moscow at 10.30 pm on Sunday. 13/07/20 Rahi Gaikwad/Mumbai Mirror
-----------------------------
0 comments:
Post a Comment