Guwahati, April 24: The Assam government is facilitating return of 391 students from Kota and they are expected to reach the state on April 26, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday. The students started their journey in 17 buses from Rajasthan on Thursday and the Uttar Pradesh government provided them stay at Kushinagar in the night, the minister said at a press conference here. Uttar Pradesh Government Sends 250 Buses to Kota in Rajasthan to Bring 7500 Stranded Students Back Home During Coronavirus Lockdown.

The state government will not bear the cost of their travel and each student has paid Rs 7,000 for the bus journey, he said. "Initially, we were not keen to bring them back and I held three Zoom meetings with them urging them to stay back but we have to consider the fact that they are all teenagers and felt insecured when Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh governments brought back their students," he said.

The Kota town in Rajasthan is a coaching hub where medical and engineering aspirants from different parts of the country go every year in large numbers.

The state government air-dropped eight police officials to help the students. It and facilitated their journey back home by requesting Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal governments to allow their movement during the ongoing lockdown, Sarma said.

A team of state government officials is monitoring their movement through GPS and also coordinating with different state governments, he said. "The students will have to undergo the mandatory institutional quarantine as they are coming from Rajasthan, which is in 'red zone'.

Swab tests will also be conducted on them and even if they test negative, it will be the doctors who will decide on their release," he said. The students were already in quarantine in Kota but the "possibility of infection during the journey is there", he said. The police officials accompanying them will also be quarantined, the minister added.

"We are also receiving messages from other students studying in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai requesting for arrangements to be made for their return," Sarma said. "If they can arrange vehicles, we will consider their requests and try to facilitate their journey, depending on our logistics capacity," the minister added.

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