Jaipur: Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcement extending the lockdown until May 3, students stranded in Rajasthan’s coaching hub of Kota reached out via Twitter and asked for assistance to return to their homes in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka.
Thousands of students used the hashtag #SendUsBackHome and posted over 50,000 tweets tagging authorities.
Just a day before the lockdown was extended, the Kota administration had withdrawn the special permits given to students to go back to their home states, as the Bihar administration had raised concern over the movement of students from Kota into their state during the lockdown.
This restriction on their movement amidst the extension of the lockdown, has thrown the students’ plans into disarray. “We were assuming that the lockdown would finish in 21 days but another cycle has started. It doesn’t appear to us that things will get back to normal anytime soon. We can’t stay here anymore without our family,” said Anmol Singh, a student from Uttar Pradesh.
“Students had held their emotions when the lockdown was declared in March but when it was extended, psychological unrest consumed the students. Since there is no exam date, no classes going on, how can these children, who are about 16-20 years old, manage without their families,” a faculty member at Allen career institute in Kota told The Wire on the condition of anonymity.
The students are worried given that the coronavirus cases are rising across the city with each passing day. This has made them suspicious of even the food that they are consuming.
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“Our messes have been shut, so the food is delivered from outside. At this time, when the infection is spreading to anyone anywhere, how can we trust the food reaching us from an unknown source? How do we assure ourselves that our food is safe from infection?,” Anurodh Yadav, a NEET aspirant from Shahazanpur in Uttar Pradesh, told The Wire.
Some have also suggested that the quality and quantity of food has degraded. “The food menu has gone for a toss. The food in the mess was already not palatable and now after the lockdown, it has gotten worse. At times, meals are also skipped,” said Ashish Ranjan, the social media head of ‘It happens only in Kota’, a group of students and pass-outs from Kota.
In the absence of written orders to landlords to not charge rent from students, many are now being asked to pay this month’s rent.
“We are now burdened with the rent of the month of April unnecessarily. Our course has finished, there are no classes going on but we still have to pay to stay here just because the government can’t help us get back to our homes,” said Rajat, another student in Kota.
Students also reported that canteens and shops had begun overcharging them.
“For every item, we are being charged extra. Like, a cold drink that uses to cost Rs 40 is now sold at Rs 45. The same is the case with other items,” added Rajat.
Students say that they were not given adequate time to react and head back home. “On March 20, our admit card for JEE Mains were about to come but it was declared that the exam is postponed. We just had March 21 to leave Kota because on March 22 again, junta curfew was imposed,” Rahul, a JEE Mains aspirant from Uttar Pradesh, told The Wire.
“Those who were able to attain a reservation, went back but most of us couldn’t prepare ourselves in a day. Many students here are from West Bengal and Karnataka, they had booked flight tickets but they all got cancelled. Now, we are stuck here,” he added.
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Upon requests from students, the Kota administration had handed out passes to students to reach their homes in private taxis.
However, on April 13, the Bihar chief secretary Deepak Kumar wrote a letter to the Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla insisting on “strict enforcement of lockdown in Kota” while warning the Kota DM for violating the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines on the movement of people.
“The District Magistrate, Kota, has been issuing private vehicle passes for transportation of people to Bihar. It is also worthwhile to mention that Kota has 40 confirmed corona cases and, therefore, such movement from Kota is not at all advisable in the present scenario. In Bihar, we are now medically examining the returning students, as well as the guardians accompanying them, and instructions are being issued to quarantine them. This unprecedented situation could have been easily avoided by strict enforcement of lockdown in Kota,” read the letter.
Responding to this, the Kota administration suspended the permission that was given to students to reach their homes. “The passes were given only to those students whose homes were not located in COVID-19 sensitive areas,” an official said on the condition of anonymity.