NISAU working with Indian embassy to help students stranded in UK lockdown due to coronavirus

With thousands of Indian students stranded in the UK with lockdown and travel disruption in both the countries following the coronavirus pandemic, National Indian Students and Alumni Union in UK (NISAU) is one of the organisations that is working with the Indian high commission in London to help them.
“There are thousands of Indian students stranded across the country and in need of food and accommodation. They also have travel and visa queries that need to be addressed. We’re in touch with the Indian government for information and monitoring the situation continuously. While the UK government is helping international students and not allowing them to be evicted from university accommodation; those who live in private apartments are in many cases not being able to pay rents. We’re talking to hotels, including several run by people of Indian origin, and other organisations to work out deals for them. We’re also talking to several community organisations for free meals. One big problem is the lockdown and people not being able to move around,” Sanam Arora, founder and chairperson, Nisau, an umbrella organisation representing Indian students, alumni and working professionals of Indian origin in UK, said.

Nisau has also set up a team of 15 members to run a help desk to respond to thousands of queries from Indian students in the UK.

“We’re also running a virtual community for Indian students, so that they can remain connected to each other and to Nisau and not feel stressed because of social isolation. This is also to address issues of mental health which have become very widespread,” Arora added.