india

Updated: Apr 27, 2020 19:04 IST

Jammu: The Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh Union Territory (UT) administrations on Monday evacuated a batch of 369 students from Kota, the country’s coaching hub for medical and engineering aspirants, amid the second phase of the ongoing nationwide lockdown restrictions, which were imposed on April 15 for another 19 days till May 3, to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.

The students, who were pursuing coaching classes for various professional courses, were left stranded in Kota since March 25 when the 21-day nationwide lockdown restrictions were initially imposed.

“A total of 369 students reached Lakhanpur on Monday around 7 am. We provided them breakfast after they underwent proper screening. Altogether, 213 students, including 57 from Ladakh, left for Srinagar in the morning. Another 186 students, accompanied by 30 of their parents, from Jammu will reach their destinations by the evening,” said OP Bhagat, deputy district magistrate, Kathua.

“As per the guidelines, the students will be kept in administrative quarantine before they are allowed to go to their homes. However, the health officials didn’t come across Covid-19 symptoms among any students,” he added.

The students are happy to be back home.

“Most of the students from the other states had left for their native places after the lockdown restrictions were announced. Our classes stopped on March 25 and we’re also facing problems in getting our food. Then, we got in touch with J&K officials and also tweeted our plight tagging our Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu,” said a female student from J&K.

An official the Ladakh UT administration thanked the J&K authorities for the cooperation. “We’ll be receiving our first batch, comprising 57 Ladakhi students, from Kota soon.”

A total of 15 Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation buses were pressed into service to bring back the students from Kota.

J&K has reported 523 Covid-19 positive cases, of which 137 have recovered and six have died, according to the latest figures of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.