Sindh to allow GB students for returning home after coronavirus tests

KARACHI: Sindh government has decided to allow students belonging to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) for returning to their homes amid coronavirus lockdown, ARY News reported on Monday.

The provincial government has decided to give NOC to the GB students enrolled in different educational institutions of Sindh so they could return to their homes.

Murtaza Wahab announced that the health authorities will conduct coronavirus tests of 2,570 students before their departure to their hometown. He said that the GB students were enrolled in different educational institutions.

He said that the students, who are willing to return to their hometowns, will be given clearance after coronavirus tests. Murtaza Wahab added that those students tested negative will be allowed to travel to their homes.

It is pertinent to mention here that the students belonging to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) were facing difficulties for moving back to their hometowns due to ongoing lockdown across Sindh following coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier in the day, it emerged that Sindh Transport Minister Syed Awais Shah summoned a meeting of the transporters on Tuesday to discuss problems being faced by the transporters amid lockdown.

President Karachi Transport Ittehad Irshad Bukhari gave the ultimatum to the Sindh government to relax the rules for them in the lockdown within three days.

“We will wait for three days for Sindh government’s decision, after then will park the vehicles on the roads”, Irshad Bukhari was quoted as saying.

The meeting will formulate the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the transporters to provide them with relief in the lockdown.

On March 23, Sindh Transport Minister Awais Shah had ordered a ban on intra-city as well as inter-city public transport across the province.

Buses, taxis, rickshaws and online cab services were also suspended across the province. As the provincial minister had asked people to stay at home, the only means of transport left for citizens was private vehicles. Even then, only two people are allowed to travel in a vehicle together, or three in case of a medical emergency.