West Bengal Govt Bringing 2,500-3,000 Students From Rajasthan's Kota Amid Lockdown: Mamata Banerjee
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in her press briefing on Wednesday, announced that the buses which her government has arranged in coordination with their Rajasthan counterpart will leave Kota this evening. They would require around three days to return to Bengal, she added.
Kolkata, April 29: The West Bengal government is facilitating the return of nearly 3,000 students who were stranded in Rajasthan's Kota following the imposition of nationwide lockdown to contain coronavirus. The students are aspirants of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), and were staying in Kota since the town is India's hub of IIT coaching. Bihar BJP Lawmaker Sanjay Paswan Asks CM Nitish Kumar to Bring Back Students from Kota and Pune Before May 3, Says 'It's Causing Us Political Loss'.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in her press briefing on Wednesday, announced that the buses which her government has arranged in coordination with their Rajasthan counterpart will leave Kota this evening. They would require around three days to return to Bengal, she added.
"Around 2,500 to 3,000 students from Rajasthan's Kota will board buses today evening. It will take 3 days for them to reach here," Banerjee was reported as saying.
Update by ANI
The governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh brought back around 7,500 and 1,100 stranded students from Kota earlier this month, respectively. Assam, on Saturday, facilitated the return of around 390 students in sleeper buses. Other states including Maharashtra are also considering the options to bring back the students stuck in Kota amid the lockdown.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also drawn flak for not taking measures to bring back the state's students stranded in Kota. According to Nitish, bringing back the students through a special arrangement would be a violation of the lockdown.
"Students studying in Kota come from well-to-do families and most of them live with their families in Kota. What is the urgent need to get them home while all these migrant labourers from Bihar are stranded for weeks," Nitish said, after the neighbouring Yogi Adityanath government facilitated the return of students on April 19.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 29, 2020 05:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).