The Maharashtra government has decided to send about 100 buses to Kota in Rajasthan to bring back nearly 2,000 students stranded there due to the lockdown, Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab has said.

Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses will be sent to Kota in the next two days, Parab said late on Monday night.

After class 12, many students of Maharashtra have been in Kota to take coaching classes for the preparation of various competitive entrance examinations.

Parab said, “The Maharashtra government has decided to bring back the Kota students. We will send some 100 buses from Dhule to Kota for this purpose.”

The students will first be brought to Maharashtra”s Dhule district, which is located adjoining the Madhya Pradesh border, and then sent to their native places by state transport facilities, the minister said.

A senior MSRTC official said that the necessary official communication for the governments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh had already taken place, as the buses would pass through these two states.

A senior official of the Maharashtra Disaster Management Department said that upon return, the students and their parents would have to undergo a medical examination after a 14-day home quarantine.

The Maharashtra government decided to bring the students back following indications that the lockout could be extended to some major cities where coronavirus conditions are not yet under control.