MADURAI
Students from Tamil Nadu studying at various universities in Kyrgyzstan submitted video pleas to India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on June 7, seeking safe return in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking to The Hindu on Wednesday, K. Ganesh Kumar, a student from Madurai who went to Kyrgyzstan’s Osh State Medical University in 2017, said only two flights had been arranged by the Centre to fly to Chennai in the four phases of ‘Vande Bharat’ mission.
The flights accommodated 168 people each in two phases -- on July 2 and July 4.
Visveswaran Rajeshwaran, another student from Madurai, said flights had been announced to Kochi and Hyderabad. There were regular flights to Delhi and Mumbai. “But without flights to Chennai, we will be spending a fortune to go back home and will be in an institutional quarantine for several days,” he added.
According to Mr. Ganesh Kumar, close to 800 Tamil students are stranded in Kyrgyzstan in five university towns.
“While some students can afford to catch a flight from Delhi, get quarantined there and then book another flight to Chennai, many others cannot. A lot of us have heavy student loans to pay back,” he said.
M. Balaji, a student from Tiruchi who has completed his fifth year of his six-year course, said university administrations across Kyrgyzstan were requesting Indian students to return to their country as classes would not start now.
“There are many deaths due to pneumonia too. The administration is afraid that hostels may be exposed. There are still close to 800 people from Tamil Nadu who still need to find a way back home,” he said.
Mr. Balaji said students of Jalalabad State Medical University got only one meal a day. “It would be great if more people were sympathetic to our plight,” he added.
The three students said they had been recording videos, tagging Ministers and the Indian Embassy regarding the matter. Mr. Rajeshwaran said if they got indication of what was the plan from the Indian Embassy, Tamil students would be prepared for that.
Dharmapuri Member of Parliament S. Senthil Kumar on June 7 had written to the External Affairs Minister regarding the arrangement of flights for the students. The students said that they were yet to hear anything positive from the Embassy.
