Hyderabad: 106 students return from strife-torn Manipur

Hyderabad: Evacuation of people mostly students from Telangana who were stranded in Imphal has begun. A special aircraft carrying 214 people, mostly students, landed at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 1.22 pm on Monday. While 106 students are from Telangana, the remaining 108 belong to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

Labour Minister Ch Malla Reddy and senior officials received the students at the airport. Another 34 reached Hyderabad via Kolkata on Monday evening. Students studying in NIT, IIIT, JIMS, Manipur Agriculture university and some distressed civilians, including a one-month-old baby and its parents from Nirmal district, have been safely brought back. Two more flights are expected by Monday night with students and other persons onboard.

The Revenue and Police officials made all arrangements to ensure that the students reached their homes safely.

A student, who is studying BTech in Imphal, told reporters at the airport that they faced a lot of problems in the hostel without food and other amenities. “There was no water supply in the hostel. We had to collect water in a bucket every day and use it for our basic needs,” he said. The students expressed their gratitude to the government for evacuating them.

The student said they heard sounds of blasts in their locality in the north eastern state. Some students said they would not mind going back to their educational institutions in Manipur as and when the situation improves. Spurthy, one of the students, said a total of 26 girls from NIT Manipur have reached Hyderabad.

Telangana Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari contacted her Manipur counterpart to facilitate the safe transit of Telangana students from the north-eastern state.

Riots broke out in Manipur between the Meitei community, which mainly lives in Imphal Valley, and Naga and Kukis who are inhabitants of the hill districts over the demand of the former for ST status. Life was crawling back to normal in violence-hit Manipur on Monday as people came out of their homes to buy essential items with the curfew being relaxed for a few hours in the morning, officials said.