Rishabh Kaushik managed to escape Ukraine's war and land at the Delhi airport along with his dog ‘Maliboo’ after struggling to get clearance for several days.
An Indian student, who refused to return home from Ukraine without his dog, arrived in India early Friday after escaping the war-torn country via an alternate route from Budapest, Hungary.
Dehradun resident Rishabh Kaushik, studying software engineering at Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics Engineering, struggled to get approval for his rescued pet dog 'Malibu' as he waits to return to India. Were.
Kaushik, a third year engineering student, had posted a video, which was widely circulated on social media platforms, narrating how the Indian Embassy in Ukraine and the Center's Animal Quarantine and Certification Service (AQCS) in Delhi is stopping her, "demanding more and more documents".
He had urged the Government of India to allow No Objection Certificate (NOC) so that he can return home safely.
“India had a lot of documents, the process was long. But in war-like situations, they should have allowed their citizens. So, I appealed. Recently there was a memorandum that said that pets and here Even stray people without NOC are being allowed to go now,” Kaushik told news agency ANI.
His video was also shared by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), urging the Center to expedite the process of allowing Indians in Ukraine to take their pets with them in flight.
The Center on Tuesday issued a memorandum facilitating "one-time exemption measures" for Indians to bring back their pet dogs and cats during their evacuation from Ukraine.
A special IndiGo flight from Hungary arrived in Delhi on Friday carrying 219 Indian nationals stranded in conflict-torn Ukraine.
Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik welcomed him and interacted with the Indian students on their arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
At the same time, many others stranded in Ukraine are still facing difficulties in returning to India with their pets.
In one of Europe's worst wars in decades, Russia continues its military operations in Ukraine for a second week. However, both the countries have agreed on a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians.
Several countries, including the UK, US, Canada and the European Union, have condemned Russia's military operations in Ukraine and imposed sanctions on Moscow and pledged military aid to Ukraine to fight Russia.