On Sunday, the day of Janata curfew, Preethi* (name changed), a student staying at Lakshmi Executive Women’s Inn, a private hostel in Ameerpet, was forced to shell out Rs 6,500 to immediately book a flight to West Bengal, as her hostel manager asked her and others to vacate the place at a short notice.
Sharing her ordeal to TNM, she said, “We were forced to vacate the hostel at a very short notice, causing deep worry on how and where to go? My family was worried when I told them about the situation.”
Due to the curfew, Telangana had shut down all public transportation for 24 hours on Sunday.
Lakshmi Executive Women’s Inn manager allegedly claimed that they received orders from the police to evacuate the hostels.
“The manager did not pay any heed to the curfew, and claimed that he was simply complying with the government's order. As he kept harassing us, my brother had to book a flight immediately by paying Rs 6,500. During my entire journey to the airport I was worried If police would block us,” Preethi recalled.
In the past few days, after the state government announced the state lockdown until March 31, many such students and employees staying in private hostels are facing the same harassment. Not just private hostels, paying guests are also being told to evacuate by owners and landlords, unmindful of the 21-day national lockdown imposed by the Prime Minister.
This is the situation at SR nagar police station. We wr asked to vacate the Hostel/PG's all of suddenly. There is a country wide lockdown and no transportation is available. Where is social distancing? How do we go? There are thousands of students&techies. @KTRTRS @TelanganaCMO pic.twitter.com/kXIs76Qeq3
— Swathi R (@SwathiReddy_R) March 25, 2020
Shortly after the PM’s announcement, one such guest, P Santosh Kumar, from Hyderabad, complained to the Minister of Municipal Administration K T Rama Rao via Twitter on Tuesday, “Sir so many people got stuck in our PG. In this situation, owners are asking us to leave to hometown. We are not able to find any of the sources to get back to our hometown's. Please help us in this prevailing situations.”(sic).
“I have requested @CommissionrGHMC and @bonthurammohan @arvindkumar_ias to discuss with all hostels & PG accommodation managers to work with us and ensure that all guests are supported,” KTR said.
I have requested @CommissionrGHMC and @bonthurammohan @arvindkumar_ias to discuss with all hostels & PG accommodation managers to work with us and ensure that all guests are supported https://t.co/N2WMrVLzsK
— KTR (@KTRTRS) March 24, 2020