Karnataka Housing and Minority Welfare Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan on Tuesday said he has decided to sponsor the education and welfare of 29 Manipur girls who have settled in the state capital. Notably, it was also the minister’s birthday.Khan spent his 57th birthday with the girl students, who are said to have been “displaced”, and also announced a financial help of ₹2 lakh, according to news agency ANI. The girls were taking shelter in the minister’s constituency – Chamarajapet – at the St Teresa Educational Institutions. This comes in the midst of violent incidents being reported from Manipur since early May.

“Zameer Ahmed Khan interacted with the students and collected information about the prevailing situation in Manipur. The displaced students explained that they have come to Bengaluru in view of the dangerous situation in their home state, and also thanked St Teresa Education Institutions for giving them shelter. The students have to stay back here for at least seven years to complete their education and the minister promised to bear the cost of education and their welfare for the whole period,” said a press release from the housing minister’s office.
“The students are very safe here and he would make arrangements for anything they wanted. Later, he had breakfast with those Manipur students in the institution and also arranged for the dinner for other 250 students who are studying in the institution. The staff and teachers of the institute were present,” it added. Around 200 students from Manipur have migrated to Bengaluru, out of which 29 students are being housed at the institution in Chamarajapet, while others have been accommodated in other institutions.