Huge relief for parents as wards return safely from Manipur

KAKINADA: Telugu students doing engineering courses in NT and IITs in Manipur have reached their native places by flights and buses arranged by the state government, escaping from the scenes of violence there.

The students of Krishna, Eluru, West Godavari, East Godavari, Konaseema and Kakinada Districts have reached their homes Monday  night from Hyderabad. North Andhra students from Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam reached their homes by noon on Tuesday.

Seeing the students back home, the parents and other relatives heaved a sigh of relief.

The students narrated their bitter experiences in Manipur in recent days, saying they spent mostly sleepless nights there. The disturbances started there on May 3, but soon the services on the telecommunication network were suspended.

“We heard from local students that a curfew had been imposed, we cannot move out of our hostels and that the situation was worsening,’’ said Sai Sri of Rajamahendravaram, who was studying fourth year engineering at NIT.
They heard the sounds of blasts and firing and huge smoke enveloped the sky.

“One night, 17 girls students in my hostel remained tight in their classroom due to the worsening situation outside. We spent hours together without sleep in hostel rooms,’’ she said.

The NIT had given an examination schedule starting from May 30 and they were preparing the project reports. Then came the troubles. The hostel managers said essentials for the kitchen were running out of stock.

Meanwhile, the AP girl students approached the Manipur officials for help. The officials said the Andhra Pradesh government was already making arrangements to take them back to their state.

“For the past one week, we worried about our grandson Harshita Sai studying third year at NIT in Manipur. I have received my grandson at Vijayawada and brought him to Vuyyuru, safely. We breathe easy now,” said Ramakrishna.

Jana Srinivas of Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district said they were facing troubles in the boys hostel as there was water scarcity. The hostel cancelled breakfast and served only lunch and dinner as the stocks of essentials were depleting fast.

“We started at 10.30am on Monday from Manipur by flight and landed in Hyderabad at 1.30pm. The AP government arranged buses with security to reach us to our homes,” he said, adding that he reached his village by afternoon on Tuesday.