Hyderabad airport barred more 20 students flying to US

Hyderabsd: After Air India, now Etihad Airways also barred another batch of 20 students from boarding a flight to the US on Tuesday.

A report in The New Indian Express adds that the students who arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad, were in shock after their tickets were cancelled.

The reports furthered that the airlines reportedly demanded additional Rs.14,000 from the students as cancellation charges.

Like AirIndia, the Etihad airlines too received official communication from the US government informing them about the blacklisting of two universities – Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU) and the Silicon Valley University (SVU).

The students refused to go back, and decided to stay put at the airport until they were allowed to board the flight, the report added.

“I have paid $ 7,000 to the university as my fee for first semester. Another Rs 3 lakh has been spent towards the paper work. Who will refund my money if I lose this opportunity? he rued. I have no intention to cancel my ticket,” one of the students told the newspaper.

India has strongly taken up with the US the deportation of its 14 students from San Francisco even as two California-based universities claimed they were not blacklisted by American authorities, a reason cited to deny entry to Indian students.

“We have taken up the deportation of Indian students admitted in SVU, San Jose and NPU, Fremont, with the US State Department. Their response is awaited,” EAM Sushma Swaraj said.

Vikas Swarup, spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said the matter has been raised very strongly with the US in both Delhi and Washington.