On May 22, SIO and members of Jama’at-e-Islami Allahabad provided water and other food items to the students of AMU at Prayagraj Junction, who were sent home by special train from AMU.
On May 21, at 11:30 pm, the special train left with about 1600 students from Aligarh to Bihar and West Bengal, but due to the negligence of the administration that even after 10 hours of exhausting journey, this train did not cross Kanpur Junction. The next day, the students who were travelling since the morning started informing that they were going short of the food and drinking items and there was no arrangement of drinking water on the train.
On social media, when the students started updating about their fragile situation, they were contacted by the members of the SIO AMU. This was informed in a communique issued by the SIO AMU. They wrote,
“Today at near 12 in the day, after a long painful journey, some students from the train informed us that they were left with no water and food. The train had no pantry car and no vendor was available in the route. Students were facing thirst and hunger in this charring heat. This treatment of AMU Students by authorities is unacceptable”.
This communique further states that,”We contacted some of our friends connected to SIO and Jamat-e-Islami in Allahabad and they promptly came to help. Surprisingly, they arranged everything from permission from city authorities to the arrangement of utilities in such short notice and when the train reached Prayagraj junction at 4, the students were provided with water and some food materials.”
Expressing displeasure with the government and administration, they said that, “SIO AMU zone expresses deep anguish over such an irresponsible treatment with fellow students, our brothers, and sisters of Aligarh Muslim University by the government. The students belonging to Bihar and West Bengal were to be provided with the train for which they had waited too long in scorching heat before they were boarded and that also without proper seating arrangements and facilities such as cold water and food.”
At the end of the communique, they expressed their gratitude for the full cooperation of Faisal Mabud and his team associated with SIO Allahabad, Javed Muhammad and others associated with Jamaat-e-Islami. And other SIO units in Bihar and West Bengal were also requested to keep an eye on the students travelling in their area and help them as much as possible.
It should be noted that the Aligarh Muslim University administration has so far arranged for thousands of students to be sent home in various parts of the country by special trains and buses.
