Almost 10 days after being stranded in the strife-torn areas of Manipur, especially some parts of the capital Imphal, 161 students belonging to Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) heaved a sigh of relief on touching down at Hyderabad and Kolkata airports on Monday.
A total of 106 students reached Hyderabad in the afternoon and 42 landed at Kolkata in two batches during the day. One more batch of 13 students are scheduled to reach Hyderabad late in the night.
They are studying various courses in the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) and Central Agriculture University in Imphal.
Himanshu Kaushik, Additional Resident Commissioner of AP Bhavan, New Delhi, told The Hindu that the students were being transported to their native places in special buses from Hyderabad and things were going on smoothly.
As violent clashes broke out in Imphal and other towns in the north-eastern State in the wake of a High Court ruling on reservation to a dominant non-tribal community, the A.P. government reached out to the students through various channels and started making arrangements to bring them back safely.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy ordered that all necessary steps be taken to ensure the well-being and safe evacuation of the students.
Former Chief Secretary and AP Bhavan Resident Commissioner Aditya Nath Das swung into action and sought the help of the Chief Secretary of Manipur and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The students started to be moved out of Imphal and the surrounding areas before their lives fell in jeopardy.
Helpline
A control room with helpline numbers 011-23384016 and 011-23387089 was set up at the AP Bhavan.
Two officials from AP Bhavan were sent to Kolkata airport on Monday to receive the students and assist them in catching connecting flights to Hyderabad. The government is communicating with the officials of Manipur to find if more students are held up in that State and take steps to rescue them.
