Tech students lock gate of college - No AICTE affiliation in five years makes students angry

The Ghani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering and Technology
t Lakshmipur in Malda district. File picture

TT, Malda, May 11: Students of Ghani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering and Technology have locked the gates of the institution, demanding its affiliation to the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) as they fear they will not get degree certificates.

Since Monday, the students have kept the main gate and offices of the institute at Lakshmipur in Englishbazar, 12km from Malda town, locked.

The final-year exams begin in June that 90 students in three streams will take.

Safi Sheikh, a student of food technology, said ever since the institute started functioning from the end of 2011, the administration had been running it whimsically.

"I have been studying here for the past five years. The first batch of BTech students will pass out in August this year. But the institute is yet to be affiliated to the AICTE and we will not be given degrees. We will not get jobs and will be deprived of higher studies," Safi said.

Safi had joined BTech after studying a diploma course at the institute for two years.

Mechanical, electrical and food technology are the three BTech courses. The rest -chemical technology, civil engineering, computer science and engineering and sericulture and textile technology - are diploma engineering courses.

The total number of students at the institute is around 850.

Teachers of the institute who didn't want to be named said the grievances of the students were genuine. "The institute has been running without a head and its administration is being handled by the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur," a teacher said.

The teacher also pointed out that there was a shortage in faculty. "Officially, the number of teachers is 52 but only 40 have been appointed. The students started an agitation on Monday and locked the gates. We have not been able to take classes since then," the teacher said.

Contacted over the phone, the chairman of the institute and its professor in charge, Vijay Kumar Dwivedi, said: "I am not in Malda. I am not aware of any student agitation. We are trying to improve the infrastructure of the institute and working to get official recognition for courses."

Dwivedi, who is also in charge of the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, said he had taken charge of the Malda institute run by the Union human resource development ministry recently. "I am not aware of what has happened there in the past. However, we have informed the ministry about the problems. The matter of affiliation has been taken up as per norms and it is taking some time," Dwivedi said.

The students said they would not allow the institute to function till the administration "solved our problems".

"The professor in charge (Dwivedi) who was appointed three months ago has never visited the campus. He does not take calls on his mobile phone. There is a shortage of teachers in 13 courses the institute offers and we do not have laboratories. We will continue our agitation till we get an assurance from the authorities," a student said.