By Matters India Reporter

Pondicherry, May 29, 2020: The Pondicherry government has intervened to arrange train for 30 students stranded in the south to return to their native places in Jharkhand.

The students, including five women, were studying at Christ Institute of Technology at Ramanathapuram Revenue village in Pondicherry when the country went into a lockdown to contain the coronavirus.

Initially, they were inside the campus. The media focus was mainly on migrant workers. The migrant students were left out with no one coming to their help.

The Jharkhand students desperately contacted Auxiliary Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas of Ranchi who has been coordinating the return of Jharkhand people from various Indian states.

The bishop tried to arrange a train from Chennai which was difficult as there was so much rush there and going from Pondicherry state to Tamil Nadu state was difficult, Father Devasagaya Raj M Zackarias, parish priest of Our Lady of Periyanayagi Shrine, Konankuppam, Cuddalore district, told Matters India.

According to sources, coming to know that situation LSP Sojasingarayer, a member of the Government Peace Committee from Karaikkal, wrote to Pondicherry Chief Minister Velu Narayanasamy and followed it up with a telephone call.

The chief minister immediately spoke to the district collector and asked him to arrange for the students to board the Shramik special train going to Balasore, Odisha.

The students will get down at Khurda Road Junction in Odisha.

From there a bus will take them to Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand, and then to their native places.

The Pondicherry government gave snacks and water packages to around 1,000 passengers on the train.

Chief Minister Narayanasamy came to the railway station to see them off on May 29.

Even on the day of departure, there was an attempt to stop the students from boarding the train saying it was meant for laborers and not for students.

Before boarding, all students were confirmed asymptomatic and were given train tickets with assigned berth.

Before boarding the train, Jolly Kumari, a student wrote to the Pondicherry chief minister to thank him for his timely help.