Puducherry: Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Sunday announced that the territorial government would bear the travel expenses of the students returning to the Union Territory from war-torn Ukraine, where they are stranded now.
Talking to reporters after kickstarting the day-long Intensive Pulse Polio Immunisation drive covering children in zero to five years at a government school here, he said the administration had already written to the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister and to the Ambassador of India to Ukraine urging them to ensure the safe return of the students and others stranded in the war-hit nation.
He also said his government would bear the cost of flight tickets of the students coming back to Puducherry.
Eight students, four each from Puducherry and Karaikal regions, are stuck in Ukraine.
On the Polio immunisation drive, he said around 86,000 children in the age group of zero to five years were being administered the oral drops to protect them from the disease.
Staff of the Department of Health were deployed at various centres to implement the anti polio immunisation in the Union Territory.