Serpentine queues were seen outside a police station in Telangana's Kukatpally.
Highlights
- Students in queues outside Hyderabad police stations
- Vehicles stranded on Andhra Pradesh-Telangna border
- Hostels will continue to function in Hyderabad
Hundreds of people, mostly students, queued up outside police stations across Hyderabad - compromising social distancing - for passes to return to their hometowns as the 21-day nationwide lockdown to check coronavirus began on Wednesday.
Serpentine queues were seen outside a police station in Telangana's Kukatpally, which has many people originally from Andhra Pradesh.
There was similar chaos at the Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border as hundreds of vehicles were stranded for hours, denied permission by Andhra police to enter. "Many are students trying to get home. They have been waiting here since morning but have not been allowed to enter Andhra Pradesh," said Ashok, who shared videos from the spot over a live call.
"For days, we haven't had much option because of hostels being shut down and food becoming a challenge. Cooks are not coming in," one young man told NDTV.
The police in Andhra Pradesh say they had no prior information about Telangana's decision to issue passes. "When the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) said everyone should stay where they are, why did the Telangana authorities give permission and issue passes? Isn't it their responsibility as well," PV Ramesh, additional chief secretary to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, asked NDTV.
He, however, said the government would resolve the issue by allowing the present batch to enter the state but said no more should line up at the border.
"Our chief minister sent flights to other countries to bring back our people. Everyone is welcome home always but these are very unusual times and no one must move" he said.
The Andhra Pradesh government, in a statement on Thursday morning, said that only those persons with a ''clean certificate'' for valid medical reasons are being permitted to enter into the state. Forty four people who came from Hyderabad were shifted to a quarantine facility at Nuzividu, it said, adding that over 200 persons who refused to move into quarantine were also being sent back.
Telangana municipal administration minister KT Rama Rao said hostels would continue to function in Hyderabad and people could continue to stay on.
Two fresh cases of COVID-19, including a three-year-old boy, have been reported in Telangana, taking the total number of people infected with the virus in the state to 41, according to a government bulletin on Wednesday.
More than a billion people locked themselves in yesterday as governments stepped up their efforts against the coronavirus pandemic. Ninety new cases were reported in India yesterday, pushing the total number of cases to 606, while the number of deaths is 13, according to the Union Health Ministry.