Ratul Khan, topper of the Assam High Madrassa (AHM) Examination 2012 and one of the seven top performing high school students to win an Assam government scholarship to visit the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters in the United States, finally got his visa on Wednesday.
Khan, son of a motor mechanic, was rushed to Kolkata in the afternoon to obtain the visa and he is expected to be flown to Delhi later in the night to join other six awardees on their 14-day dream trip.
Earlier on Tuesday Khan had to skip an official function held here, in which Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi formally handed over tickets to six other awardees for their exposure trip to NASA headquarters, as his visa application was kept pending by U.S. Consulate in Kolkata.
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“I received a call on my cell phone from someone in Kolkata around 9.30 a.m. As he was speaking in English which I could not understand I immediately gave the phone to Ratul. After receiving the call Ratul informed me that his visa has been cleared. Around 10 a.m. an official of the RMSA (Rashtryia Madhyamik Siksha Abhijan ) called to inquire if we had received any new information about Ratul’s visa. When I shared the information with him the official said that they were yet to get any official message. After sometime he called again and said that Ratul’s visa has been cleared and that he will have to rush to Kolkata to get the visa. Later two officials of the education department took Ratul to the airport around 1.30 p.m,” Ratul’s father Munna Ali Khan told The Hindu.
State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced at Tuesday’s function that Khan would be taken to NASA headquarters on the second trip after his visa application is cleared.