Nearly 1,200 stranded students leave GB Nagar for their native places in UP

Noida:

Noida:

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Nearly 1,200 students, stranded in Gautam Budh Nagar due to the Covid-19 lockdown, on Sunday left for their hometowns in 45 different districts of Uttar Pradesh aboard 51 state-run buses arranged by the district administration.

“A total of 1,184 students are being sent back to their native places in 51 buses,” said MN Upadhyay, additional district magistrate (finance), who is the nodal officer.

However, for now only UP students are being evacuated, officials said, adding that the arrangements for students of other states will be done eventually.

The UP government had last week ordered the district administrations to arrange transport for stranded students, after which an online link was shared by the district administration on May 1 with a form for the students to fill in the requisite details and apply for the permission and facilities to go back home in UP and other states.

“Every bus has been sanitized. The driver and cleaner tested, and two home guards are there in each bus. All necessary precautions of social distancing are being maintained. Students have been given masks, food packets and water bottles,” said Upadhyay.

The students were picked up from seven points in the district -- Botanical Garden metro station, City Centre metro station, Gaur City/Kisan Chowk, Electronic City metro station, Sector 51 Metro station, Advant Crossing in Sector 142 and Ghanta Ghar in Surajpur. All the students were taken to India Expo Mart in Knowledge Park area of Greater Noida, from where the buses left for the different parts of UP.

“All respective district administrations have been provided with the list of students. Also, the students have been asked to stay in quarantine for 14 days when they reach home,” said Upadhyay.

The move comes as a relief for the students who had been stranded here for almost two months now.

“I am from Maharajganj. I had been staying with my elder brother in Noida Sector 30. He is a doctor. Every day when he came back home, I feared that I might contract the Coronavirus. As I am leaving Noida, my family would be very happy now,” said Dharam Raj Yadav, a final year engineering student of a private college in Greater Noida.

All educational institutions in the district had been closed even before the national lockdown was announced on March 24.

“The hostels were shutting, so I moved to a friend’s paying guest accommodation in Sector 15. Finally, I am going home. My parents had been worried for the past two months,” said Renu Singh, a final year MBA student who comes from Varanasi.

The students received mails with the travel information, after which they reached respective pick-up points. However, the situation did not turn out well for everyone.

“I got to know about the link today. I first went to the nearest police station who directed me to the DM office. When I went there, I was told that the registration had closed. So, I have missed my chance to go back home, and no one knows when the opportunity will come back again,” said Deepak, a student living in Sector 53 who is a native of Deoria district.

The officials said that the link would re-open in a couple of days, but they refused to give the exact date.