TANA Meets S.M. Krishna in New York on Tri Valley

New York, NY: Telugu Association of North America (TANA) delegation of Secretary Mohan Nannapaneni, Vasu Chinna, and Jai Kureti along with a group of over 25 Tri Valley University students met Hon. S.M. Krishna, Minister of External Affairs, Smt. Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary of India, Mr Prabhu Dayal, Consul General of India in New York regarding the current situation of TVU students. S.M Krishna allocated 2 hours from his busy schedule after his speech to UNSC at the request of TANA to meet with and converse directly with the students affected by the closure of Tri-Valley University.

TVU students living in the New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and surrounding areas were part of this meeting. The students hail from Pune, Kerala, UP, Bombay and AP, contrary to popular belief that all the affected students are only from AP. Students took turns to explain each of their current situation in detail and the hardships they are having to endure as a result of the closure of TVU. S.M. Krishna said that he was under the impression that the students issues were mostly resolved. After patiently listening to all the students he expressed concern at the continued uncertainty and assured the students that Government of India would request the Department of Homeland Security to expedite the cases of the affected students.

TANA President Jayaram Komati in a letter to the Minister expressed concern at the unresolved status of the students and requested Hon. Minister S.M. Krishna and External Affairs Ministry to provide assistance to the students, so that the students may return to their classes and salvage the rest of the semester. Jayaram stated that if the current status quo continues the students will be unable to attend classes for the rest of the school year and will also have to spend a lot of money for legal issues. The letter was handed over by the TANA delegation to S.M. Krishna. The delegation requested the minister to provide a paid legal assistance to the students as most of them could not afford. The students requested the Indian Government to intervene and seek the US government, at least a temporary relief for them.

TANA Secretary Mohan Nannapaneni speaking after the meeting said that TANA was glad to have facilitated the first ever in person meeting between the TVU students and External Affairs Ministry so that S.M. Krishna could get first hand accounts of the hardships being endured by the TVU students. He stated TANA has been at the forefront of the efforts to help students from the beginning of the nightmare for the students. TANA has requested S.M. Krishna to to accelerate the handling of the cases as the students are suffering severe trauma due to their current situation.

TVU students who attended the meeting thanked TANA for their continued efforts and for organizing the meeting with the Union Minister.