The Maharashtra government has decided to send about 100 buses to Kota in Rajasthan to bring back nearly 2,000 students stranded there due to the lockdown, Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab has said.

Buses of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will be sent to Kota in the next two days, Parab said late Monday night.
Many students from Maharashtra have been staying at Kota to take coaching classes for the preparation of various competitive entrance examinations after Class 12.

"The Maharashtra government has decided to bring back the students who had gone to Kota. We will send some 100 buses from Dhule to Kota for the purpose," Parab said.

The students will first be brought to Maharashtra''s Dhule district, which is located adjoining the Madhya Pradesh border, and then sent to their native places by state transport facilities, the minister said.

Necessary official communication for the same has already been done with the governments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, as the buses will be passing through these two states, a senior official of the MSRTC said.

On return, the students and their parents will undergo medical checkup followed by the mandatory 14-day home quarantine," a senior official from the Maharashtra disaster management department said.

The Maharashtra government decided to bring back the students following indications that the lockdown may be extended in some of the major cities where the coronavirus situation is yet to come under control.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in the state rose to 8,590 with death toll taking over 369 according to the state health officials. With the fresh numbers, the state continues to be the worst-hit state in the country since the coronavirus outbreak.