Lucknow, Apr 28 (IANS): The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has started sending back around 10,000 students stranded in Prayagraj to their respective districts in a phased manner.
More than 300 buses are being used to ferry the students to their home districts.
The students were studying in the Allahabad University and other colleges and coaching centres and were stranded in the district, which is also a big hub in coaching for competitive examination.
The Uttar Pradesh government had said on Monday that it would now transport around 9,000-10,000 students stranded in Prayagraj to other districts in the state in a phased manner.
Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Avanish Awasthi, said that in the first phase, the buses from Prayagraj would drop students to Sonbhadra, Mirzapur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh, Kaushambhi, Fatehpur and Chitrakoot districts, with borders close to Prayagraj.
The same buses will be sent to other districts in the second phase. He said that if other states want to take back their students stranded in Prayagraj, they would also be provided permission.
The UP government had earlier sent buses to bring back students stranded in Kota, Rajasthan, and migrant labourers stuck in Haryana due to the lockdown. Over the weekend, more than 12,000 migrant labourers were brought back from Haryana, as per government figures.
All the students have been advised 14-day home quarantine.
Meanwhile, interacting with students who had been brought back from Kota through video conferencing on Tuesday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath underlined the need for following safety protocols.
He said that it was the foresight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he had implemented social distancing even before Holi by cancelling the Holi Milan events.
"The lockdown has helped the country fight against the deadly virus. Other countries have suffered greater losses," he said.
The Chief Minister said that he had something in mind which would provide facilities of coaching and studies in different districts so that students do not have to move out of the state.