24 students from MP to be flown back home from Manipur on May 9: Official

A total of 24 students of Madhya Pradesh will be brought back from violence-hit Manipur in a flight to Delhi via Guwahati on Tuesday and will be subsequently flown to four cities in their home state, a senior official said.

A total of 24 students of Madhya Pradesh will be brought back from violence-hit Manipur in a flight to Delhi via Guwahati on Tuesday and will be subsequently flown to four cities in their home state, a senior official said. "Following the directives of the chief minister, 24 students of Madhya Pradesh studying in NIT, IIIT, Sports University and the Agriculture University of Manipur will be brought by Alliance Air flight from Imphal to Guwahati and then further to Delhi," said Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajesh Rajora on Monday evening. He said all these students will be flown to Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior on flights and the expenses will be borne by the state government. Earlier, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan talked to the students and assured them of help. Chouhan said the state government has been making all the arrangements of bringing the students back to the state from Manipur. He said that an arrangement to bring 50 citizens of the state has been made by the state government. ''So far, the state government has information on 24 students. If state's citizens other than these 24 will contact the state government, they will also be brought back,'' the chief minister said. Chouhan said the chief minister's office and state officials are in constant touch with these students. On Sunday, Chouhan spoke to his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh over the phone and discussed the well-being and safety of students who are currently in the riot-hit state. Earlier in the day on Monday, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra had said, as per the information available so far, 20 students from the central state were in Manipur.

He also said some of these students refused to return saying they are safe in Manipur as of now. Violent clashes broke out last Wednesday after tribals organised a demonstration in the ten hill districts of Manipur to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, leading to the death of at least 54 people. So far, 23,000 people have been rescued from the violence-hit areas and moved to military garrisons, officials said. According to officials, life was crawling back to somewhat normal in violence-hit Manipur as people came out of their homes in the state capital Imphal to buy essential items with the curfew being relaxed for a few hours on Monday morning.