India-Pak Tensions Force Telugu Students Evacuate Srinagar
Telugu students flee Kashmir amid India-Pakistan tensions, AP control room aids safe return
By : Aruna
Update: 2025-05-10 15:39 GMT
Visakhapatnam: Amid the border tensions between India and Pakistan, students from Telugu states studying in prestigious institutions like the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar and the University of Kashmir in Srinagar have begun returning home due to growing safety concerns. Official reports indicate that 50 students have safely reached Delhi with help from a control room at AP Bhavan.
M.V.S. Rama Rao, deputy commissioner of AP Bhavan, confirmed to the Deccan Chronicle that 200 to 300 Telugu students have already left Srinagar for Jammu to reach Delhi, where the government has arranged a one-day free stay at AP Bhavan. This provision is designed to give the students time to make travel arrangements and safe return to their home states.
In a distressing account, A. Radhika Meghamala, a final-year student at NIT, described her ordeal during a phone call with her mother, Hansa Tina, in Vijayawada. Radhika detailed daily blackouts and frequent loud explosions near her campus, prompting her to urgently plead over a video call, “I am scared, take me home.” Worried by her daughter’s experience, Hansa Tina immediately contacted the college management and the control room at AP Bhavan. “Although I understand that the Indian government holds a strong position over Pakistan, the details my daughter shared were disturbing enough to compel me to bring her home,” Hansa Tina told this newspaper.
In a distressing account, A. Radhika Meghamala, a final-year student at NIT, described her ordeal during a phone call with her mother, Hansa Tina, in Vijayawada. Radhika detailed daily blackouts and frequent loud explosions near her campus, prompting her to urgently plead over a video call, “I am scared, take me home.” Worried by her daughter’s experience, Hansa Tina immediately contacted the college management and the control room at AP Bhavan. “Although I understand that the Indian government holds a strong position over Pakistan, the details my daughter shared were disturbing enough to compel me to bring her home,” Hansa Tina told this newspaper.
Initially, officials at the NIT assured parents, guardians and students that the situation was under control and dismissed any plans for evacuation. However, as students expressed growing security concerns and demanded increased safety measures, NIT staff began accompanying students on buses from Srinagar to Jammu. From there, coordinated transport arrangements have been made to help students travel to Delhi and eventually return to their home states.
Established in 1960, NIT Srinagar is recognised as one of India’s 31 National Institutes of Technology and enjoys the status of an Institute of National Importance. Similarly, the University of Kashmir, founded in 1948, is renowned for its diverse range of academic programmes.