Uttar Pradesh government has arranged 250 buses for the students stuck in Kota, Rajasthan, to bring them back home.
Archita Srivastava
17th April, 2020
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh State Transport Corporation (UPSTRC) buses have been arranged to bring back 7,500 students back home, who are currently studying engineering and medical courses and are stuck in Kota, Rajasthan due to the lockdown.
The UP government has arranged 100 buses from Agra, 72 from Aligarh and 75 from Etawah. The students are supposed to return by Saturday.
The decision was taken after the students flooded their twitter handles with #SendUsBackHome tweets, and parents requested the state to take appropriate action amid strict lockdown.
Plz help us!!#SendUsBackHome #HelpKotaStudents https://t.co/ZJzBSnYeZH
— Simran Singh (@SimranS23657938) April 16, 2020
Roop Shikha, a student of a coaching institute in Kota, said that there are still many students from different states who are not able to reach home. “We are stuck here since the announcement of the lockdown. I live as a paying guest and it is very difficult to survive—from food to money, we have become helpless. We request the concerned government to bring us back. Now since this decision has been taken by the UP government, we hope we will reach home soon.”
Kota buses are ready to leave for UP @ithappensinkota #SendUsBackHome
— Rajesh Gupta (@RajeshGuptaTwit) April 17, 2020
🤟🤟 pic.twitter.com/Bv1ndLqmKW
The Rajasthan government has assured to give permits to all the state governments who wish to bring back the students stuck in Rajasthan.
According to the sources, the responsibility of monitoring the buses is being done by Manoj Trivedi, Regional Manager of UP and Service Manager SP Singh of Agra Zone. SM has also been given the task of providing masks and sanitizers to all the drivers as well as making food arrangements.
ऐक्शन में योगीः कोटा में फंसे 7500 कोचिंग छात्रों को लाने के लिए भेजा बसों का काफिला #Lockdown2 https://t.co/m21XJeKJJG
— NBT Hindi News (@NavbharatTimes) April 17, 2020
Officers have also said that all the students will be subjected to thermal screening before they are boarded in the sanitized buses, and they will also be provided masks. No bus will seat more than 35 students. Apart from them, security personnel will also be present in buses, sources said.
Other students from different states are now requesting their state governments through social media to take similar action and help them to get back their homes as the number of cases of pandemic are increasing.
UP has more challenges to face than Bihar but still the UP Govt is making sure to help "their" students to reach their respective homes!
— Aneema Sinha (@AneemaSinha) April 17, 2020
Bihar Government knows only politics!!..no room for humanity there!#Shame#SendUsBackHome #HelpKotaStudents @NitishKumar