Srinagar, May 9: Jammu and Kashmir government has sought early return of all the students of the Union Territory  studying in Bangladesh under ‘Vande Bharat Mission’.

The  Vande Bharat Mission was launched by the government of India to facilitate the return of the Indian Citizens stranded abroad.

The first batch of 168 students of J&K studying in Bangladesh arrived in Srinagar on May 8.

As per the figures with the government of Jammu and Kashmir, 230-240 students are still stranded in Bangladesh.

 In this regard, Chief Secretary (CS) B V R Subrahmanyam has written to foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla. “Their early return attains significance given the ongoing holy month of Ramadhan and the approaching Eid festival falling on May 25, 2020,” the CS wrote.

The CS has pointed out that with the present plan of evacuating these students in a staggered manner, there is every apprehension that such students, who have to take flights at later dates would get anxious.

 Seeking personal intervention of the foreign secretary, the SC has called for arranging a return of these students to Srinagar in a single flight with a capacity of 250 persons so that they are home well before the Eid festival.

  “This needs to be mitigated, keeping into consideration the extreme distress prevalent in the stranded students/persons due to the COVID-19 pandemic” the CS has appealed in his letter to the Foreign Secretary.