Jaipur: In a three-storey paying guest accommodation at Mahaveer Nagar colony in Kota, only two rooms are occupied.
Prateek, an 18-year-old IIT-JEE aspirant from Purnia, Bihar who is one of those two occupants in the building, is wary of stepping outside his room that leads to a badly illuminated corridor. He can only go to sleep in the morning when there is some sort of movement outside.
About a week ago, nearly 20 other students have been accompanying him at the PG. The students had utilised the first phase of lockdown to do group studies and had hoped that the condition would be back to normal by April 14. But when it was announced that the lockdown would be extended until May 3, these students reached out via Twitter using a hashtag #SendUsBackHome and asked for assistance to return to their homes.
Also read: #SendUsBackHome: Stranded Students in Coaching Hub of Kota Take to Twitter
Subsequently, states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat plied buses to bring them back. However, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha didn’t make any attempt to look into the matter and called out other states for violating Centre’s guidelines.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had clearly stated that bringing back students would be “injustice” towards the labourers. “If you allow students, on what grounds can you stop migrant labourers who are also stuck?” he had said.
Empty corridors at a Kota accommodation. Photo: By special arrangement
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren similarly wrote to the prime minister, “Violating the home ministry order restricting inter-state movement would be a criminal offence as per the Disaster Management Act. We are getting to know that some states are violating this order by the government. It can’t be validated by the fact that the states are doing it by mutually agreeing to it.”
As students stuck in Kota protested against Nitish’s reluctance to bring them back, an unnamed FIR was registered against several students for violating the lockdown.
On Wednesday, the Centre modified its guidelines to facilitate inter-state movement of stranded migrant workers, tourists and students to return to their homes. However, on the ground, these states are yet to put a system in place to get back their people.
Bihar still appears in state of denial. “The state government does not have the resources to bring every Bihari back. The onus of sending them back falls on the government of the state they are stranded,” deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi told The Print.
He urged the Centre to permit the movement of trains to bring back people.
Students play cards at a room in Kota. Photo: By special arrangement
It was only on May 1 that ANI reported the Bihar Disaster Management Department announced that two trains, one each from Kota and Jaipur will depart for Patna at 10 pm. However, the students, when contacted, said they were clueless about the development and had not been intimated at all about it.
The PGs and hostel accommodation in Kota are now occupied only by students mostly from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and parts of Northeast. There are about 7,000 students in number.
There are two ways in which students are accommodated in Kota, one, in hostels that have an in-built mess facility, and two, in PGs where the students have the option of either eating at any mess set-up in almost every lane of the city or subscribing to a tiffin service.
After the extension of lockdown and subsequent departure of students, the mess facilities and tiffin services in Kota have mostly shut operations. Those continuing the services are not able to maintain food quality. “The meals are now reduced to just dal and chappatis. Just once in a while, we get to have a sabji. Most of us are now learning to cook on our own through YouTube,” said Prateek.
Students are served only dal and chappatis in the messes at Kota. Photos: By special arrangement
Food quality is not the only issue with the students here. They say their focus has gone for a toss in these uncertain times. “One can still live without delicious food but we have come here to study and if that is not happening, what’s the point in staying here? As soon as I pick up my books, I can’t help but think about my friends who have reached their homes. If our state government was willing to take us back, we would also have been at our homes, with our parents,” said Arya, a NEET aspirant from Bihar currently stranded in Kota.
Meanwhile, the Kota administration has been issuing the students passes for movement in private vehicles to Bihar and other states.
Now you can apply for pvt. Vehicle pass. (Any state student can apply) #ihoik pic.twitter.com/BON9VWzTnQ
— It happens only In Kota (@ithappensinkota) April 30, 2020
“Buses from Delhi will be arriving to take back students but no buses from Bihar and Jharkhand are expected as of now. The ministers are putting out contradictory statements and it doesn’t look like they would agree anytime soon. Students have an option of moving in private vehicles to Bihar and other states which are not facilitating bus service,” Ashish Ranjan, the social media head of ‘It happens only in Kota’, a group of students and pass-outs from Kota told The Wire.
Students on board a bus from Kota. Photo: By special arrangement
Following the facilitation of movement of private vehicles to Bihar and other states, most of the students, especially boys, are travelling to their cities in private taxis. However, for many girls travelling in a taxi alone in a big concern.
“We can neither request our parents to come over because they are 40 plus in age and more vulnerable to COVID-19 nor travel in private taxis alone. If our state, like other states would have plied government buses, then it would have been easier. CM says there are no funds to take us back but our parents are willing to pay an amount for this,” said Arya.
Many students are also worried about being sent to isolation centres upon reaching their states. “We have seen several videos depicting poor living conditions at the quarantine centre, chances of contracting with COVID-19 is even more there. I hope we are sent for home quarantine only,” she added.
