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Sheer number of students swamp UP’s Kota evacuation plan, buses fall short
The Uttar Pradesh government had sent 250 buses to pick up an estimated 7,500 students from Kota amid the lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus.
Around 6,000 students in over 200 buses left for their homes in Uttar Pradesh since Friday night but thousands of students from the state are still waiting for a ride and more buses are likely to be needed than the 250 Yogi Adityanath’s government had sent for the evacuation .
Students thronged the pick up points marked by the Kota administration in the city during the lockdown. But more students arrived for boarding the buses than the stipulated number since Friday night.
Nitesh Kumar Sharma, Media Marketing Head, Allen Career Institute, Kota said that “Our estimate of UP students in Kota was around 7,500 but there are many parents also who live with their wards in Kota and also many students are not enrolled in any institute but do self-study so roughly around 10,000 students are wanting to return to UP which has resulted in some shortage of buses”.
Apart from several students enrolled in the coaching institutes, several other students also arrived for boarding the buses.
He said that there could be shortage of buses for around 4,000 students of UP in Kota.
Kota’s Additional District Magistrate, Narendra Gupta said 3,138 students have already been sent through 113 buses since Friday night and around 2,800 more students are being sent through the remaining 90 buses of UP but there is still need of more buses because of the number of students.
To ensure social distancing, only 25 students are being sent in every bus with sitting capacity of over 60, he said.
But Divisional Commissioner, LN Soni denied that there was any shortage of buses. “There is no shortage as such as buses are being filled gradually so that no crowd is gathered to flout social distancing but if there will be any shortage of buses then more buses will be arranged. UP government has sent 250 buses so far,” he said.
Deputy Director, Public Relations department, Hariom Gurjar said that Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan government will also arrange buses according to the need to ferry students from Kota to UP.
