Bhubaneswar: A review meeting was held today at Lok Seva Bhawan under the chairmanship of Odisha Chief Secretary Anu Garg to review the current situation regarding the security of Odias in the Middle East amid the ongoing unrest.
The meeting was attended by the Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, Habib Gagan, Additional Principal Resident Commissioner Sucharita Sarangi through virtual mode, while from Lok Seva Bhawan, Secretary, Odisha State Odia Language, Literature and Culture Department and Director, Directorate of Odisha Families, Dr. Vijayaketan Upadhyay and Nodal Officer deployed by the department for rescue operations from the Middle East, Preetish Panda, were the key participants.
Principal Resident Commissioner Gagan said in the meeting that security is a major issue in the aviation sector in the airspace from the Middle East. In view of all this, he informed about the discussions and decisions of the meeting held with the Ministry of External Affairs of India and said that the aviation authorities have been instructed to increase the government flight services further.
According to the data received from the Ministry of External Affairs till March 9, about 65,000 overseas Indians have returned to the country safely through special civil flights. Out of these, 35 Odia tourists were stranded in Dubai due to the closure of airspace. On March 7, 9 tourists returned to Bhubaneswar airport via Kochi flight. It is reported that the remaining 24 tourists returned to Bhubaneswar airport via Mumbai on March 8 by a special Air India Express flight.
Dr. Upadhyay informed that about 200 phone calls were received from overseas Odias living in the Middle East. Later, they were connected to the toll-free helpline number (1800-118-118-797) of the Special Control Room opened by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of the Government of India, as well as to the number of the Indian Embassy in the East. Along with this, the calls received by the Directorate were connected with the Odia institutions located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
It is worth noting that on March 2, 2026, a high-level committee was formed in this regard under the chairmanship of the Odisha Chief Secretary. In this meeting, Preetish Panda, OSD of the Odisha Family Directorate, Odisha Language, Literature and Culture Department, was appointed as the Nodal Officer (Point of Contact).
In today’s meeting, as per the instructions of the Chief Secretary, three contact officers have been deployed as contact officers for the rescue and protection of the Odia people stranded in the East. They are Director of ‘Odisha Family Directorate’ and Secretary of Odia Language, Literature and Culture Department Dr. Vijayaketan Upadhyay (Phone No.-8260431727), Additional Resident Commissioner of Odisha, New Delhi Smt. Sucharita Sadangi (Phone No. 9818848787) and the already deployed Nodal Officer Shriyut Panda (9583321964).
Along with this, the Office of the Principal Resident Commissioner, New Delhi has been deployed as the Nodal Office. The said office will keep in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs and regularly inform the Odisha Government about the rescue and safety of the Odia diaspora. The Protector of Emigrants, an organization working for the protection of Odia diaspora, will stay in touch with the Odia diaspora and cooperate in their rescue and safety work.
The Chief Secretary has directed all the departments and officers concerned to work vigilantly by keeping a close eye on the situation.