KASARGOD: The Kerala Government ran five KSRTC buses with police protection to bring home the students from the state studying in Mangaluru. The government used the three-hour window between 3 pm and 6 pm when the curfew was relaxed in the city to bring the students.
Most of the educational institutions in the city have shut for Christmas but the students were not able to go home because of the curfew imposed by the Mangaluru police after Thursday’s police firing on protesters.
Kasaragod District Collector D Sajith Babu had urged the principals of the educational institutions to transport the students up to Pumpwell Junction.
The five buses brought in around 250 persons from Mangaluru, said an official of KSRTC. Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan and the collector received the students at the Kasaragod bus stand.
The students who took the special buses were from Kasaragod, Kannur and Kozhikode.
“Students from faraway districts - mainly MBA students - did not leave the hostels as they have exams on Monday,” said a student on reaching Kasaragod.
Male students said the Karnataka police were rude and did not allow them to leave the city.
The collector said the buses waited till 5.30 pm to pick students. By 6 pm, the Mangaluru police resumed the curfew
CMO intervenes to ensure safe return of students; RTC may resume service today
OF the five buses that reached Kasaragod, one bus left with students to Taliparamba, and another bus went to Alakode.
Almost all the nursing students from the state have returned for Christmas vacation.
A student of the City College of Nursing in Mangaluru said almost all the 250 students have gone home for vacation.
“We managed to board the train,” she said.
The KSRTC official said services to Mangaluru might be resumed on Sunday.
“Initially, we will run our buses only up to Talapady on the border. If the situation is encouraging and we get police protection, we will restore the full service,” he said.
The Mangaluru police commissionerate has imposed curfew in its limits covering Ullal, Surathkal, Moodbidri and Mulky till December 22 midnight. But the police said the curfew would be lifted during the daytime on Sunday, and fully lifted from Monday.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement that he had got in touch with Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to ensure the students’ safe return.
On his directive, top officials spoke to their counterparts in Dakshina Kannada.
The CMO’s intervention came after the strong intervention by MLAs from Kasaragod district - N A Nellikkunnu, K Kunhiraman and M Rajagopalan.
The curfew in the city had affected the transport of goods. Commercial carriers from Kerala were piling up at Talapady on the border with Karnataka and police refused entry to them.
Private vehicles were allowed to enter Mangaluru city only if they were going to the airport or a hospital.
However, the traffic had eased considerably after the curfew was suspended at 3 pm.