Ahmedabad, April 28 (IANS) A total of 56 residents of Gujarat safely evacuated from strife-torn Sudan have arrived in Ahmedabad on Friday, an official said.
The residents, who were among 246 Indians evacuated from Sudan, expressed gratitude to the government for their safe return.
The Gujarat returnees were welcomed by the Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, at the Ahmedabad Circuit House.
The evacuees, who were brought to Mumbai by an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Thursday afternoon, hailed from 18 states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana.
Of the 56 Gujarat residents, 44 were brought to Ahmedabad in two buses deployed by the Gujarat government, while the other 12 reached the city on their own.
The majority of the evacuees are from Rajkot district, with others hailing from Gandhinagar, Anand, and Vadodara.
The state government has arranged state transport buses to send the evacuees to their respective destinations across Gujarat.
Sanghavi, who also handles the Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRG) division of the government, stated that the state was in constant touch with the Ministry of External Affairs to identify and evacuate Gujarat natives stranded in Sudan.
After reaching Ahmedabad, the evacuees thanked the Centre and the Gujarat government for rescuing them from the violence-hit country.
One of the returnees said that life had become difficult in Sudan due to the ongoing fighting and the shortage of food and water, leading to incidents of theft, murder, and loot.
Under ‘Operation Kaveri’, India has been taking its citizens from conflict zones in Sudan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia through buses and IAF’s aircraft and the Indian Navy’s ships.
The ongoing conflict in Sudan has reportedly resulted in around 400 deaths.
–IANS
janvi/pgh
