Srinagar: Distress messages from Kashmiri students continue to pour in, with about a dozen medical aspirants from the valley saying they are stranded in Rajasthan’s Kota city amid the prevailing all-India lockdown. The students have requested the Jammu and Kashmir administration to facilitate their return back home. Many students from the valley who went to Kota for coaching for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2020 at LN Coaching Institute, told Kashmir Reader over the phone that they do not know what to do. Adnan, a student from Sumbal in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, said that since the all-India lockdown began, most of the grocery stores in the locality are closed. The students said that the rising number of COVID-19 cases had also put their parents back home in a state of mental agony. Asif, another Kashmiri student in Kota, complained that the grocery stores in the area remain largely shut. Atif Javed, another student putting up in private rented accommodation, said that the house owner had categorically warned him not to venture out of his room, else he will show him the door. Pertinently, the J&K Resident Commission had on Saturday asked the students stranded in different parts of India due to the ongoing lockdown to call on its helpline numbers for help

Irshad Khan