Difficulties of Tri-Valley students raised in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Difficulties faced by students of the Tri-Valley University in the US, which was closed down following charges of running an immigration racket, were raised in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday with all political parties expressing concern over the issue.

Around 1,500 students - mostly from India - were left without a valid status to stay in the US after their university was raided for allegedly running an immigration racket enabling job-seekers to come in as students, Congress member L Rajagopal said during Zero Hour.

He was supported by Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, and Ramchandra Dome (CPI-M) who sought to know the steps by the government to mitigate the sufferings of the students.

Rajagopal said most of the Indian students belonged to poor families of Andhra Pradesh, many of whom were tagged with radio-callers by the US authorities for no fault of theirs.

He urged the government to engage an advocate in the US to represent their case in that country, ensure their protection and provide them counseling and guidance. Arrangements should also be made to get them admitted in other universities, the Congress member from Andhra Pradesh said.

Dome accused the government of not doing anything on the issue.