More than 2,500 students from West Bengal who were stranded in Kota, Rajasthan, for over a month due to the nationwide lockdown are finally on their way home. On April 29, 101 buses were scheduled to leave Kota for Bengal with the students. The buses will travel to three different zones in the State—Kolkata, Siliguri, and Asansol. They will be given a health check-up before and after boarding.
The return journey of the students comes two days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured them in a social media post that that they would be coming back home soon. On April 27 Mamata had stated on social media:
“GoWB will initiate every possible help to people of Bengal stuck in diff parts of the country due to lockdown, in returning home. I've instructed my officers to do the needful. Till the time I'm here, nobody from Bengal should feel helpless. I'm with you in these tough times.
“I am personally overseeing this & we will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that everyone gets any possible help. The initiation has already started & all students from Bengal stuck in Kota would begin their journey back soon.”
The State government has also begun the process of transporting migrant labourers of Bengal who have been stranded in different districts within the State. On April 29, around 450 migrant workers hailing from Malda, Murshidabad and Uttar Dinajpur districts, who had been stranded in South 24 Parganas, boarded buses from Diamond Harbour to finally return home; and in Phulia in Nadia district, around 100 weavers from Cooch Behar were also homeward bound.
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