Cops prepare to send home stranded students

Shikha Salaria | TNN | Updated: May 1, 2020, 10:49 IST

NOIDA: Hundreds of distressed students stranded in Noida and Greater Noida since the imposition of lockdown last month can finally return to their home states.
Following instructions from the state home department, the Noida police have started preparations to help transport all such students who want to leave for their home districts or states. Cops have asked all the educational institutions to share the list of their students residing in hostels in the twin cities.
In the next two days, police will also release a form that each student — interested in returning home — will have to fill up. Through this form, they want to make an estimation of the number of students residing in PG facilities who want to go back home. The list will then be shared with the transport department, officials said.
In fact, preparations started soon after the additional chief secretary (home) Avanish Awasthi directed authorities in Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Aligarh to start preparations to help facilitate transportation of students currently stuck in these districts to their native places.
Officials said they have asked different colleges, universities and institutes in Gautam Budh Nagar to share the number of outstation students stranded in the district, segregating them on the basis of their native states and districts.
Ajit Kumar, joint registrar of Sharda University, told TOI that their campus has around 500 students who are residing in their hostels out of which, around 100 are those students who belong to different states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
“Around 100 students would want to return to their native states. Most of these belong to Bihar and Jharhand. The remaining are foreign students belonging to African nations and other countries, including Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh. We have given the information to the district police,” he said.
A senior police officer said they will first confirm the number of students who would want to return to their homestates and a form will also be released soon. “After a proper estimate is drawn, a schedule will be prepared about when they can be transported to the different states/districts. The UP Roadways will be informed about the num-bers and the buses will be arranged accordingly.”
While local colleges and varsity officials are of the view that there are around 500 students studying in different universities/colleges and institutes who want to return to their native district/state, there are scores of paying guests running across Greater Noida and Noida where students have been residing on rental basis. It is this number that the administration wants to be sure about.
“There are multiple PG facilities being run in sectors like Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Pi etc where students are residing and their number is unclear,” a senior official of a private institute in Knowledge Park said.