pune the unrest in manipur almost derailed tingnunhoi dimngels plans she then heard of a place in pune where she would get accommodation i can now continue my studies i have enrolled for a political science degree in poona college she saidher family staying outside manipur informed her parents about the facility in pune and they decided to send her here like her at least 100 other fellow kukis have arrived in pune for jobs studies and to be with their kinthe kuki students organisation kso pune which started in 1995 has begun to house displaced students and job aspirants in a hostel in kondhwa from july 1 members of ksos welfare department had sent out messages on the social media in midjunethe hostel in kondhwa is budgetfriendly with free lodging for the first month and rs 3000 rent thereafter it was inclusive of electricity food and wifiwe initially opened a facility during the covid19 pandemic but there were no students coming to pune so we had to close it we reopened when the violence in manipur did not subside for weeks but held a meeting to find more places seitinlen sitlhou president of the kso saidmost youngsters have left behind families pune is welcoming but i want to go back once everything settles down in our state nengneuhat kipgen said she had travelled to pune with dimngel and will study psychology in poona collegetravellers moving out of manipur had to go to airports either in assam or mizoram as the airport in imphal valley was too risky in the current political situationboth girls along with another resident tingnuntheng kipgen 16 started from their villages in kangpokpi district on june 26 they hired a fourwheeler to dimapur where they took a train to guwahati and then a connecting flight to pune reaching the city on june 28 the whole trip cost them more than rs 20000 eachwe were taking neet coaching but since the riots broke out we had no financial support we wanted to be doctors but had to change our field of study it pains me that we are no longer able to follow our dreams dimngel addedamong the boys some have found jobs or have taken admission to higher education institutes the others aged below 20 havent found jobs yetin pune there are many ways to get extra income compared to the hilly areas in manipur good education and business opportunities are only in imphal valley letkhotinthang haokip said the 24yearold is pursuing higher education in political leadership and governance at mit school of governmentpaominlal misal 23 will join wns global services we could at least flee to other places but others who have stayed back are stuck students are the pillars for the future and the government must help us he addedl s john singson who works for the welfare department said they get around 20 to 30 people wanting the hostel facility i have 17 people on the waiting list it will be difficult to