Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: Students from Bihar, still stuck in coaching-hub Kota due to the on-going lockdown, have started a protest against the Nitish Kumar government's apathy in ensuring their return to their homes. Till now, 5 state governments have evacuated thousands of students from the city but with the Nitish government staying supine, over 11,000 students of Bihar are stranded in Kota.

The students from Bihar, many of whom have now started a hunger strike in their hostels, put up posters on this issue describing the Nitish government as deaf, dumb and blind. One student on hunger strike alleged, "Nitish government is bringing students from abroad, but they are not thinking about us. This double policy of Nitish government will not work". These students of Bihar warned that if the Nitish government did not take them back from Kota, their protest will continue.

Shahbaz Khan, a NEET aspirant from Katihar District in Bihar said, "we are desperate to go to our homes, it's troublesome to spend a single day here without coaching and with critical problems like food etc. We appeal to our CM to think seriously about the thousands of students stuck here".

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Another student cried in misery. "I am mentally disturbed and want to go back home. Other states have called back their students but can't understand why our state government is not acting. My mother cries on phone and is very worried about my situation," said Milan Jaiswal, a resident of Dharbanga district in Bihar.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan government has been trying to send all students studying in Kota back to their respective homes in other states. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot has discussed the issue with Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar, and Bengal CM, Mamta Banerjee, offering to send the students to these states but the idea was rejected by the two CMs.

Gehlot had remarked, "Governments of Bihar and Bengal and their CMs Nitish Kumar and Mamata ji are still reluctant. They say they are helpless since lakhs of migrant workers from their states are also stranded in different parts of the country. We have told them that we are ready to cooperate in whatever way they want; we have even pointed out that while migrants are mature people, the students stuck in Kota are young people in the 16-20 age group".

This has now led to the intense protest by the Bihar students to put pressure on their state government.

Though students from UP, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have been sent back, Kota still has around 22 to 25 thousand students from Bihar, Bengal and a few other states. The Rajasthan government, Kota district administration and Allen coaching institute are trying to get other states to allow their students to return soon.

On Thursday, around 60 students of Daman Diu left for home in 2 buses. The buses were sanitized and social distancing was followed in seating. On Friday, 389 students left in 18 buses in the afternoon from Allen and other coaching institutes of Kota.