1,400 students from Haryana, Assam leave for home; those from Bihar stage stir

Nearly 1,400 students from Haryana and Assam left Kota for their home towns by buses on Friday morning, while over 2,000 from various places in Rajasthan are scheduled to leave in the evening.

Meanwhile, students from Bihar have appealed to Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of their home state, to make arrangements for their return and staged a silent protest here.

Over 50 students from the Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Diu had left for home in three buses on Thursday noon and more than 250 students from Rajasthan had left for their respective home districts till Thursday night.

Eighteen buses carrying students from Assam and 31 with students from Haryana were scheduled to leave Kota on Friday, ADM (administration), Kota Narendra Gupta, who is monitoring the task, said.

At least 50 students from Dadra and Nagar Haveli and six from Diu had left Kota in three buses on Thursday noon, while students from Bundi, Jhalawar and Baran in Rajasthan wre dispatched in 10 buses on Thursday night, he added.

Nearly 1,000 students from Haryana left for home on Friday morning and about 400 students from Assam have started the journey towards their home state.

The Assam government had hired buses from private operators to take the students from the state back home, an official of a coaching institute who is associated with the task of sending students home, said.

Over 2,000 students from various cities and towns of Rajasthan were also scheduled to leave Kota in the evening, he added.

"The Haryana government has heard our plight and sent buses to take us back home. We are grateful to the Haryana government," Anjali Singh, an NEET aspirant who hails from Gurugram, said.

Meanwhile, over 12,000 students from Bihar, who are stuck here since the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus was imposed, appealed to Kumar to call them back on Thursday.

They held up placards with the appeal written on those from their respective places while maintaining social distancing.

Shahbaz (18), an NEET aspirant, and his roommate in a paying guest accommodation, Aajam Hussain, both from Bihar's Katihar district, said they were desperate to go home as it was getting more and more difficult to spend even a single day here amid a critical problem of food and the panic surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The approval to send back 190 students from Punjab and nearly 500 from Jammu and Kashmir is yet to be received from the respective states governments, a district official said.

At least 13,000 students from Uttar Pradesh, 2,800 from Madhya Pradesh and 350 from Gujarat had already reached their home towns from Kota, which is known for its coaching centres to prepare students for competitive exams, in the last few days, he added.