Meghalaya: Around 36 students stranded in violence-hit Bangladesh, 80 rescued

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that around 36 students from the state, who are studying in Eastern Medical College, are still stranded in violence-hit Bangladesh. He also informed that 405 Indian students, of which 80 are from Meghalaya were evacuated through Dawki in West Jaintia Hills District.

Terming the violent protests as ‘unfortunate’, CM Sangma said, “As soon as we got this information, we immediately moved into action. Almost close to about 405 students from India have been evacuated from Bangladesh through Dawki and out of them about 80 are from Meghalaya and the rest are from different parts of the country. We also have students from Bhutan and Nepal and some tourists, who are stuck and who have crossed the border from Dawki side.”

He informed that the state government is in touch with the Indian Embassy in Dhaka to facilitate any kind of movement that is required.

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On students stranded in the country, he said, “We are in touch with the officials there also and in touch with the Indian Embassy," further informing that despite the college claiming that the situation is okay, many parents are very concerned. 

He further added, "I want to tell all the parents that we are continuously in touch, though the situation in and around the college are okay, but enroute there could be some situation and therefore it will not be possible to take a chance. Unless and until we are very sure that the route is also clear and they can be safely brought to the border, we will have to watch the situation. So therefore those activities are on and we are in touch, we are hopeful that within the next 24 hours will be able to assess the situation."

Informing that most of the returnees will enter from Tripura, he said, “So we are in touch with the Tripura side also, we are in touch with our counterparts and our High Commission in Bangladesh also, and our officials also in touch so that we can evacuate our students and others immediately from there as soon as we find that the route is also cleared.”

Furthermore, the CM informed that the government has decided to come up with an online portal to get contact details of all students from Meghalaya, who are studying outside the country. According to him, the government has faced a lot of problems in the past as it does not have direct contact with students studying abroad.

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He said that the proposal will be taken up in the next cabinet meeting for approval.

“…there will be online portal where we are urging every student from Meghalaya who studying outside, to please register and please give us your contact numbers, so that you are in our database and immediately if there's any situation and in a matter of just seconds, we will be able to bring out all the details of our students, who are there and the contact numbers, so that in the future if such a situations happens in any part of the world, we have the necessary details of contacts,” he said.