Following the Ministry of Home Affairs’ order allowing students stranded in different parts of the country to move to their hometowns, Aligarh Muslim University has taken up the matter with the Uttar Pradesh government and started the process to safely transport the students to their respective homes.
In a notice issued on Thursday, AMU Registrar Abdul Hamid said: “The process of transportation of students will start from Friday and buses will be available at the Proctor’s office.”
The notice further said: “Students are advised to avail of this facility as no class, examination and entrance test are scheduled for May and June and it is important to get all the students safely to their hometowns in view of the rising cases of COVID-19 in Aligarh district and the consequent potential risk of COVID-19 infection in hostels.”
Aligarh had at least 34 active cases on Thursday, including three junior doctors of AMU’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital.
Mr. Hamid said the transportation of the students will be done as per the arrangements made by the U.P. government. “Initially, travel arrangements by buses for students residing in Uttar Pradesh are being made by the district administration and it will be followed for other States, including Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand etc,” he said.
“The students are required to avail of this facility as the same may not be available in the future depending on the situation,” the Registrar emphasised.
Later in the day, Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor, clarifying through an official release, said: “The process of sending students is a continuous one... students are advised to be patient and not to panic unnecessarily.”
Local sources said some students would like to stay back as the university premises allowed freedom of movement and food was available in the hostels.
‘No compulsion’
University spokesperson Shafey Kidwai said there was no compulsion to leave immediately but the idea was that during Ramzan the students would like to be home. “Only foreign students would stay back,” he said.
Meanwhile, M. Salman Imtiaz, outgoing president of AMU Students’ Union, said the move could be dangerous. “I have received messages from students expressing fear of infection or of turning into carriers of COVID-19... in light of fake narrative built around theTablighi Jamaat and the recent statements against JNMCH by leaders of the ruling regime, any natural incident could be used against the university students.”
Taking strong objection to the move, Mr. Imtiaz suggested that the university upgrade the health infrastructure and take precautions as recommended by the WHO.
In a related development, Haris M. Khan, Nodal officer and Chairman of Microbiology, JNMCH, said COVID 19 tests were being done under the prescribed protocol in three shifts. He was responding to the district administration’s charge of delay in the reports from JNMCH. “Since samples that are tested positive require confirmation, the reports get delayed. Sometimes, samples received from the centres do not conform to protocol. It causes delay and inconvenience,” he said.
