7 students evacuated from violence-hit Manipur reach city

Nagpur: The 25 students who were evacuated from Imphal, Manipur, reached Maharashtra on Tuesday. Seven of these students arrived at Nagpur Railway Station.
The students spoke to TOI and gave details of their journey and the situation in Manipur.
Vrukshal Ganvir, a student at NIT, Manipur, said, “There was a clash of two communities in the state, I don’t know the exact reason for the conflict or what groups they are, but the conflict is very violent. A lot of firing took place, bombs were used and many homes were set afire. We were located in a hilly area, and could see the fires spread in the forests. There was scarcity of food and water. Each student was given only one litre of water every day.”
Aditya Gajbhiye, another student from NIT Manipur, spoke about their journey from Imphal to Nagpur. “We expressed our concerned to chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and they had assured that we will be brought home safely. After that, army officials visited us and gave us reassurance and strength. Then within a day, we were escorted by Manipur president of Shiv Sena Tombi Singh to the airport. We took a flight and landed at Guwahati, and then took another flight to reach Mumbai. From there, we seven students from Nagpur boarded a train and reached here,” said Gajbhiye.
He mentioned that all of their travel was funded by the Maharashtra government, and members of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, and Shiv Sena were present with them all along.
The students were not only from NIT but also from IIIT and National Sports University. Sajan Pounikar, a student from NIT, said, “There were students from Odisha and Telangana who had left before us. Our colleges couldn’t provide assurance of safety and even the staff asked us to leave by any means possible. My professor told us better safe than sorry, and hence we left the college.”
(Reporting by Pyush Agrawal)