Tamil Nadu government to airlift 4 students from Manipur today

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government will airlift four students from violence-hit Manipur on Tuesday in the first phase of evacuation. Meanwhile, there is some respite for the affected students as shops selling essential commodities opened for two hours in Manipur on Monday.
Around 60 Tamils, mostly students, are stranded in Manipur. The state government is in contact with them despite the absence of internet.All are safe. Based on demands from the stranded people, more evacuations would be carried out, said an official in the non-resident Tamils’ welfare department.
“The Tamil Nadu government has sent us air tickets through SMS and we were told to reach Imphal airport from where we will be taken to Chennai airport. The state government has assured that we will be safely taken to our hometown,” said J B Santhosh from Aruppukottai, studying first year physical education in the National Sports University in Imphal.
Santhosh, his sister Murugalakshmi and two more students, Karthick and Yuvaraj, will leave Imphal on Tuesday.
“Airlifting stranded Tamils in Manipur is not much of a problem as most of them are working or studying in Imphal. They will be first taken to Kolkata, from where they will be brought to Chennai,” said the official.
S Sivakumar, an associate professor in Manipur University, said essential items are available. “Shops selling essential items were open this morning from 5 to 7. The government has said shops will be opened every day for a few hours. We bought food and water today. We were able to manage with the available food items for the first five days. We hope the situation improves in the coming days,” said Sivakumar.
S Nagaraj, HOD of Chemistry, NIT, said that deployment of large numbers of military personnel had defused the crisis to a large extent. He visited the college, located about five km away from his house, on Monday. “There was tension owing to violence on last Wednesday and Thursday (May 3 and 4), but the situation has changed today. I was able to travel without any fear,” said Nagaraj.
Nagaraj is planning to return to Tamil Nadu. He plans to request the college to postpone the exams.
Meanwhile, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, in a statement, urged the DMK government to immediately evacuate all the Tamils stranded in Manipur. “Why is the chief minister, M K Stalin, who brags a lot about safeguarding the interests of Tamils across the globe, not taking enough efforts to rescue affected Tamils in Manipur?” asked EPS.