Plea to bring back 700 TN students stuck in Kyrgyzstan

Chennai

Around 700 medical students from Tamil Nadu have been left stranded in Kyrgyzstan, as there are no direct flights available to Chennai under the Vande Bharat Mission. The students have been caught in a dilemma as the government authorities in Kyrgyzstan are reportedly forcing them to return to their native countries though there are no direct flights available.

Samsutheen Shabir, one of the students who is stuck there, said international flights from India were not allowed till July 30, which has made it impossible for them to return. “The Kyrgyzstan government is going to stop International flights from August 1- 30 owing to higher number of COVID-19 cases reported lately. We will be stranded for one more month,” Samsutheen Shabir said.

The students have urged the State government to arrange direct flights to enable their return to Tamil Nadu. They have tried to contact several officials with the State Higher Education Department and Indian Embassy in Kyrgyzstan. However, no help has come so far, they rued.

Another medical student in Kyrgyzstan said that the embassy has assured to arrange the flights for other cities like Hyderabad or Delhi but the fare worked out to about Rs 50,000. “It has been months since we even ate properly. How would we be able to afford fare of about Rs 50,000? We just want to return to Tamil Nadu after being stranded in Kyrgyzstan for several months,” said the student.

When contacted, senior officials from the State Health Department said the State government cannot take any step in the matter directly. Only the Ministry of Home Affairs can take a call, an official said. The officers who have been entrusted the task of coordinating the arrangements for stranded persons were unavailable for comment.

Tiruchy Siva writes to Centre over evacuation

DMK Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchy Siva has written to the Union External Affairs Minister Jaishankar seeking to expedite the evacuation of over 600 medicos who are stranded in Kyrgzstan.

Thanking the minister for responding favourably to similar evacuation requests during the pandemic, Siva, in his letter, drew the Centre’s attention and said the spread of COVID-19 is worsening and students have become mentally affected due to scarcity for basic resources such as food and lodging, and health care. “The mental agony they undergo is worse than any other physical hardship they may be facing currently being there,” Siva remarked, urging the Minister to interfere and evacuate the students. “They belong to the youth community of our nation who contribute to our advantageous demographic dividend forming the strength of this nation,” he said.

Meanwhile, as many as 877 Indians from England, Philippines, and Saudi Arabia arrived at the Chennai airport on Friday night. With this, the number of domestic passengers arriving at Chennai airport increased to 2,300 and 2,450 on Friday and Saturday. For the last two weeks, the passenger count was only less than 1,500.