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By Mustafa Shaikh: Nearly a week after violence broke out in Manipur, 22 stranded students from Maharashtra landed safely in Mumbai on Monday.
After landing safely in Mumbai, parents and students said that leaving the state couldn’t have been easy without the support of the government and the Army.
Students said that although violence did not affect their institutes, they heard disturbing reports outside.
While heading to the airport, the students said they saw huge army deployments and damage to public property in the strife-torn state.
Kalyan, father of a third-year B.Tech student Avinash, said he was happy that his son had returned.
“His return was not possible without the government’s support. We tried to book tickets, but prices for tickets were soaring. They have their exams at the end of the month. Once things are normal, they will return,” said Avinash’s father.
Mohit Khadpe (20), a student of NIT campus in Imphal, was also among the students who returned.
“We were able to contact our parents as the cellular network was working. We got a lot of support from our Institute and faced no issues. But given the current situation in Manipur, it was better to leave until the situation gets normal. There are heavy army deployments in the state,” said Mohit.
Clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3 when the All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur (ATSUM) organised a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ in the Torbung area of Churachandpur district. They were protesting against the demand of non-tribal Meiteis – who dominate the Imphal Valley – for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
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