Students stuck in Kota start Twitter campaign to go home

It's tough time for thousands of students preparing for various competitive exams who are stuck in Kota in the wake of the nationwide lockdown and are struggling to go back home. The students, however, have no choice but to remain stranded as their parent states have refused to take them back due to the threat of the spread of coronavirus.

Disappointed, the students have started a Twitter campaign - #helpkotastudents and #sendusbackhome where they have been tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who is an MP from Kota, chief Minster Ashok Gehlot, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath among others.

Coming from different states including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar among others, these students take the coaching to crack competitive exams including IIT-JEE and medical entrances, have tweeted over 70000 messages on Twitter sharing their worries, challenges and threats they face due to epidemic outbreak.

One student Anshu Maharaj tweets, "We are not able to study, we are not getting food... we are helpless, plz help."

Another student Aditya Kumar, tagging the PM and the UP CM, tweeted, "Our hostel owner is asking for money and are troubling us again and again, we have completely fallen out, now only one last hope is from you."

Vishnu Shukla, another student tweets addressing PM Narendra Modi, "Dear prime minister @narendramodi ji, there are thousands of students who are stuck in Kota due to lockdown situation, they are not getting proper food and their hostels and PG owners want money at this critical situation, please help us and #SendUsBackHome."

Meanwhile, Kota district administration did allow students to leave for their native states earlier. However, as states refused to let these students in, the permission was later withdrawn on Tuesday, leaving several students stranded, said BJP MLA Madan Dilawar.

Kota has emerged as yet another hotspot in the state with the number of cases rising manifolds in the last few days.

The increasing numbers of coronavirus patients (84) are yet another worry for the students as well as their parents.

Abhishek Rajak, in this reference, tweeted, "Kota becomes Rajasthan's next hotspot. We need help @narendramodi sir immediately. #HelpKotaStudents @PMOIndia, @ashokgehlot51."

Speaking to IANS, Dilawar said that students have been given all facilities from their coaching centres, however, in these tough times, they are getting emotional. They are missing their families and want to be with them.

LK Soni, Divisional commissioner, Kota said, "We have issued a helpline number which addresses their complaints on issues like food, residence and medical. In fact, students have been approaching us on this helpline number and we are sending our teams to the said location without delay. However, surprisingly, in 40 per cent of cases, our officials are finding that they have food but they want them to be allowed to go back home. They are panicking because of movement barrier," he said, adding that the real reason for drawing attention is that they are getting emotional here, he added.