‘Hope to return to Bengal after curfew is lifted today’
Times of India | 12 September 2025
Kolkata: Sibaji Basu from Baranagar and Atanu Ghosh from Behala will be among several dozen men and women from Bengal who will try to return home on Friday after being stranded in Nepal amid the GenZ protests.
While Basu and Ghosh will take a flight via Delhi, there are several others who would travel by hired vehicles to the Raxaul border in Bihar, a Bhawani Bhawan officer told TOI.
According to police, around 50-60 people from Bengal are still stranded in Nepal. The two helplines have not stopped ringing, recording around 65 calls, said an officer. "Our estimate of the number of people being stuck in Nepal is from the calls," said a senior officer.
"At present, the Nepali Army is allowing no one except ambulances and those headed to the airport to leave hotels and houses. We arrived here on Sunday on an office trip. From what we have been witnessing since Monday, there is a feeling things are yet to normalise. We hope the curfew will be lifted on Friday and we can return. I am lucky I already have my ticket booked, but airfares ranged between Rs 19,000 and Rs 42,000 on Thursday.
But arranging for a ticket to India itself is now an uphill task," Basu told TOI over phone from Kathmandu.
Bengal Police said the state administration had been tracking not only tourists from Bengal but also those who had gone to Nepal for studies, trekking, attending conferences and for medical purposes. "People from Bengal are stuck in Pokhara and Birat Nagar, apart from Kathmandu. We have told them the Bengal administration is with them.
Some plan to book vehicles to drive from Pokhara to Raxaul," he said.
Among those stuck are three researchers from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Souvik Chakraborty, Mayukh Bhattacharyya and Manihar Talukdar. The three had reached Kathmandu on Sept 5 to attend a conference. They were to travel back on Tuesday by bus but have since been stranded there.