Patna, (Bihar Times): The decision of the Tamil Nadu government to close down all educational institutions and hostels for a week has put thousands of Bihari and north Indian students studying there in a quandary. They are desperate to return home and are willing to board any train to north India. The government closed the institutions apprehending unrest by students over the volatile situation in Sri Lankan for the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam.

Students were asked to vacate the hostel latest by 5 pm on Sunday. Reports say that when these students reached different stations all trains to Bihar or north India were jampacked. When they reached their hostels they were told that they would be staying at their own risk.

One of the girl students from Patna, Kusro Kumari, was quoted in the Times of India as saying “Half of my batch mates are Biharis.” Awnish Pandey, another third year engineering student studying in Salem, said that his college authorities had packed them into a bus and dropped at the railway station.

Students are taking trains to Delhi and even Bangalore so that they could somehow get out of Tamil Nadu. Though the state government had closed the colleges and hostels for seven days, the college authorities had told them that the closure could prolong. The situation in most other parts of the state, including Chennai, is the same.

A large number of Bihari students study in various engineering and other technical institutions in Tamil Nadu. The rout of LTTE in Sri Lanka has spread rumours that Tamilians were being forced to leave that country and this has led to a volatile situation. Even those students who are living in private lodges and rented rooms are feeling insecure as desperate parents want them back home and not go back until the situation becomes normal again.

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