36 Andhra Pradesh, Telangana students reach Delhi from J & K
Students recount horror of Srinagar floods
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-12 00:18 GMT
NEW DELHI: “We feel lucky to be alive,” this is how Adilabad’s 18-year-old Banavath Raj Kumar summarised the harrowing experience of being stranded in Jammu & Kashmir flood.
“We faced 12 days of continuous rains and our college campus was inundated. We undertook a tedious 16-hour-long journey to Leh. Our experience was like a horror movie.” added Mr Kumar.
Around 50 students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were marooned in the National Institute of Technology in Jammu and Kashmir within their hostel campus. Mr Kumar, along with 35 of his college mates, were brought to New Delhi from Leh by the Andhra Pradesh government and are now being sent home.
With tears rolling down their eyes, every student had a horror tale to narrate about their experiences having been marooned in their campus without any help from either college administration or the government.
“The 16-hour journey from our institute in Hazaratbal to Leh was unforgettable. We had none to help us in the institute. We were left alone,” Mr Kumar said.
B.V.R. Rohit from Visakhapatnam said around 74 students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are studying in NIT, Srinagar and 36 of them reached Delhi on Thursday.
“Communication collapsed on Tuesday and finding out the whereabouts of the others became difficult,” Mr Rohit added.
Welcoming the students at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan, AP’s special representative to Delhi Kambhampati Rammohan Rao said many Telugu students, pilgrims and tourists at the valley are stranded at various locations.
He also said efforts were on to bring the rest from Srinagar to Delhi. There are about another 40 students, who are still stranded without any help.
“Andhra Pradesh government is making all the arrangements for the return of the 36 students to their respective places,” Mr Rao said.