Hyderabad: Chaos at borders with Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka

Hyderabad: After a 12-hour ordeal, normalcy was restored on Thursday at the Telangana border with Andhra after the students with NOC (No Objection Certificate), issued by the Telangana police, were allowed to enter Andhra Pradesh. In the early hours of Thursday, the AP government decided to allow the students to enter the state by conducting thermo screening. They will be put in home quarantine for two weeks and conduct medical tests until they are safe from the viral infection. In view of this, AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy urged the people not to return to the state. Even if they come and allowed into AP, they cannot go their homes as they will be put under quarantine, he added.

It may be mentioned here that hundreds of students were stranded at the Ramapuram crossroads since Wednesday evening as they were denied entry into their native state by the AP police. Soon after they reached the border, the AP police denied them entry and expressed apprehensions that some of them might be carriers of the viral infection.

The police told the students that unless the government takes a decision on this, they will not be allowed into the state. As the tense situation prevailed, Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao and AP Municipal Administration Minister B Satyanarayana discussed the issue over the phone with regards to the health status of the students since they were stay put there for more than 10 hours in a big number. Meanwhile, at other border areas of Telangana such as Mahbubnagar, Medak and Adilabad, chaotic situations prevailed as people are struggling to reach their homes since the neighbouring states were blocking the entries. The AP police at Mahbubnagar, Karnataka cops at Medak and Maharashtra police at Adilabad were not allowing their native people to cross the border. Many of them were living in Telangana particularly in Hyderabad as construction workers. After the Telangana government announced the lockdown, these workers started leaving the state to their places. All the states shut the borders in a bid to check the spread of the virus.