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Chhattisgarh HC chief justice steps in to send stranded medical students home
The students from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Raipur were stranded due to the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown after regular classes were suspended on March 15.
Sixty-one medical and nursing students are on their way home to Kerala from Raipur, thanks to the intervention of Chhattisgarh high court chief justice PR Ramachandra Menon.
The students began their journey on Friday in three special buses arranged by the Chhattisgarh government after Menon sought the administration’s help to get the students home.
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The students from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Raipur were stranded due to the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown after regular classes were suspended on March 15.
They wanted to return to Kerala after the Central government on April 29 issued guidelines permitting inter-state travel of students to their hometowns.
But the lack of transport to Kerala turned out to be a roadblock for the students. A few of them contacted Supreme Court advocate Haris Beeran, who sent an email to Menon, highlighting the issue and seeking his help.
“I have been informed that there are students from Kerala who are stranded and would like to return to their hometown,” Beeran said in his email.
Beeran said the students had registered with the Kerala government’s website but nobody from that state had contacted them.
“It has also been informed to them that there are trains running from Delhi and Punjab, which are transporting stranded students to Kerala. Since the route of these trains do not permit them to pass through Chhattisgarh, they have no other option but to seek assistance from the government of Chhattisgarh and the state government will have to take some measures to transport these stranded and helpless students back to their state,” the email said.
Menon, who hails from Kerala, conveyed the situation to the state government through advocate general Satish Chandra Verma.
The three buses carrying the students are expected to arrive in Kerala on Sunday.
