Coronavirus: Telangana students in Kazakhstan told to stay put there

HYDERABAD: With the state government taking up the issue of Telangana students stranded at Almaty airport in Kazakhstan, the Consulate General of India in Astana, Kazakhstan has said it was wrong to say the students were stranded at the airport.
In a letter to the Telangana state government, CGI, Astana, advised that the students be informed to stay back until the situation improves and travel ban was lifted.“Their hostels are still operational and mess facilities are available. The embassy has also advised all universities and educational contractors to continue to run hostels and mess facilities,” CGI, Astana said.
“If students are from cities other than Almaty, which will enforce entry/exit measures from tomorrow, please advise them to go back to their cities urgently. Their student contractors can help in this regard. Staying in large groups at public places like airports might pose problems for Kazakh law and order officials,” the letter issued on March 21said.
The CGI explained that since the students have semester holidays, they wanted to visit India. The official said Kazakhstan was not highly infected with Covid-19 and the government there was taking all steps to contain the spread of the virus. “When students know that there are government restrictions/quarantine measures, which were announced well in advance, they could have undertaken their travel when the situation improved,” the official said.
The letter was in response to a letter from Telangana government on March 21, mentioning that 14 medical students from the state were stranded at the Kazakhstan airport for the last three days without flights, food and accommodation. The general administration (NRI) department wrote a letter to the Indian embassy in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, seeking help for the students to return.