Srinagar
Amid coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown, the Jammu and Kashmir government said that first flight with over 160 students from Bangladesh will land in Srinagar on Friday afternoon.
“Medical Students Reurn Home.First flight with over 160 students from Bangladesh set to land in Srinagar later today. More flights next week,” government spokesman Rohit Kansal tweeted.
Sources said that the special Air India flight will leave at 11 a.m. on Friday from Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport and will reach Srinagar by afternoon. Bangladesh has around 550 medical students from Kashmir who study in various government and private medical colleges in Dhaka and Mymensingh.
The government said arrangements are being made for their arrival in an orderly manner while adhering to the norms of social distancing and undertaking testing so as to ensure that timely action is taken to prevent any spread of Covid-19 in the UT of J&K.
“Approximately 33,000 persons have entered the UT, with proper regulation, from Lakhanpur.During this period, migrant workers, students and stranded persons from the States of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have already returned to J&K. The stranded persons in the States/UTs of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Delhi have been permitted to return, in a regulated manner, with effect from May 7, 2020 and this process will continue for a week,” said the government in a statement.
“Simultaneously, train services are being arranged for stranded persons of J&K, particularly from far off places.These trains will start arriving shortly; necessary coordination with the sending states as also with the Railway authorities going on. Nobody should move in a hurry without passes issued with the consent of J&K Government. Else will be quarantined for 2ldays in Kathua, ” it reads
“The Government has decided to bear the cost of tickets; the returnees will not need to make any payments for their return journey by train. The UT of J&K has taken umpteen measures for controlling the spread of Covid-19, with frontline workers working untiringly. In this backdrop, it is necessary that the return is managed such that these efforts do not get adversely affected,” it added.
The Government reassures all the stranded persons of J&K that it is taking every possible step for their early return to their homes.
