Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia hit out at the critics of the Operation Ganga in Lok Sabha saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took command of the mission as a protector of every Indian citizen.
“The PM took command into his hands, as ‘pradhan sevak’, as protector of every Indian citizen. Meetings were held day and night. As Hardeep Singh Puri (Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas) said he was in Guwahati, I was in Madhya Pradesh. We received a phone call at 11.30 pm calling us back to Delhi, to be sent to Romania and Moldova,” Scindia said.
The Central government had launched the Operation Ganga on February to evacuate the Indian citizens amidst the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, who had crossed over to neighboring countries.
Scindia was one of the four cabinet ministers who were deputed to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation efforts on the ground, the other ministers being, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri and VK Singh.
Further hitting out at those who questioned government’s readiness on the issue, the Union Minister said India was one of those leading countries that first issued advisories.
“When war began, we heard a lot of remarks – why were advisories not issued on time? India is one of those leading countries that first issued advisories. We issued advisories on 15th, 18th, 20th and 21st Feb – 4 advisories,” Scindia said in Lok Sabha.
“IndiGo operated 35 flights, Air India operated 14, Go First operated 6 flights, Air Asia operated 3, Air India Express 9, SpiceJet 9 and 4 C-17 Globemasters of IAF did sorties and evacuated 23,000 students safely,” the Civil Aviation Minister added.
