Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh): With inter-state borders sealed as part of the 21-day nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of COVID-19, hundreds of students, mostly natives of Andhra Pradesh studying in Hyderabad, were left stranded at the border on Wednesday
More than 1,000 people, who had set off from Hyderabad to various districts in Andhra Pradesh were stranded since Wednesday afternoon at the Garikapadu check-post on the inter-state border as the police refused to allow them passage.
The stranded passengers were facing hardship as there was no water or food in the vicinity. Also, the panic-stricken passengers were huddled in a group as they awaited some intervention from the higher-ups to end the impasse.
The passengers, including a few women and children, set off from Hyderabad in cabs after obtaining special travel permits from the local police. After a smooth ride up to Garikapadu, the border between the two states, the vehicles were stopped around 3.30 pm, leaving the passengers stranded.
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"We are a group of students and have been asked to vacate our hostels. The Hyderabad police gave us special travel permit to return to our native place and accordingly we hired a cab and started our journey this morning. We were blocked at this place as the AP police are unwilling to let us in," a student said.
The same situation was being faced by some 200-odd students, residents of Telangana, who were studying in Kurnool district of the neighbouring state.
Read: LIVE LOCKDOWN UPDATES: Hundreds of people stranded at AP-Telangana checkpoints
Meanwhile, Krishna district sub-collector HM Dhyan Chand has made it clear that all passengers who wanted to come into Andhra Pradesh from Telangana, had to mandatorily stay in the government quarantine facility for a period of 14 days.
Around 100 people reportedly accepted to stay in the quarantine camp at IIIT, while the others were asked to return to Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, AP minister Botsa Satyanarayana spoke to Telangana minister KT Rama Rao about the situation.
Rao then took to Twitter and asked all hostels and PGs in Telangana to not close down for the entire duration of the lockdown.
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Hon’ble @TelanganaCMO KCR Garu spoke to AP CM @ysjagan Garu regarding below
— KTR (@KTRTRS) March 25, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
Matter should be resolved soon and everyone will be taken care of https://t.co/7T6yXBfFnP
">Hon’ble @TelanganaCMO KCR Garu spoke to AP CM @ysjagan Garu regarding below
— KTR (@KTRTRS) March 25, 2020
Matter should be resolved soon and everyone will be taken care of https://t.co/7T6yXBfFnPHon’ble @TelanganaCMO KCR Garu spoke to AP CM @ysjagan Garu regarding below
— KTR (@KTRTRS) March 25, 2020
Matter should be resolved soon and everyone will be taken care of https://t.co/7T6yXBfFnP
He added that the Chief Ministers of the two states have also spoken to each other on the issue, and assured that it would soon be resolved.
(With inputs from agencies)
