NIT strike to go on

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Sep 03, 2018: Gangtok: Students of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sikkim have decided to continue with their stir till they get written assurances both from the Sikkim government and the Centre to set up the permanent campus on a suitable site other than Rabongla where it is presently located on a temporary basis.

The students have been boycotting classes for over a month to protest the delay in the construction of the permanent campus and the alleged abysmal lack of facilities on the temporary campus. "We have decided to continue our peaceful protest till we get a written assurance jointly from the state human resources development department and Union ministry of human resources to set up the permanent campus," said a student.

The NIT started functioning from a temporary campus at Rabongla, which is at an altitude of about 7,000ft and 120km from Gangtok, in 2010 with 50 students. The current student strength is about 800.

G. P. Upadhyaya, the principal secretary of the state human resources development department, appealed for patience and asked the students to resume their classes.

"The process has just begun. We have visited the campus and we have also visited Delhi. So, at least give us two to three months. We will come up with a solution acceptable to everybody. ..For that to happen, give us time, hold your patience for two-three months, attend your classes," he said.

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Upadhyaya, however, expressed disapproval at the approach of the students. "Not going to class, and going on a strike. Wanting a written assurance, I don't approve of this at all. And I have also told them very clearly that if you do things like this, it will be very difficult for us to find a solution," he told The Telegraph.

Upadhyaya iterated that Union human resources minister Prakash Javadekar had promised to send an empowered committee of his ministry to finalise the site for the campus and release construction funds at the earliest. He was part of a high-level Sikkim delegation led by minister of human resources development department R. B. Subba that met Javadekar in Delhi on Thursday.

Some of the students The Telegraph spoke to over the phone, however, maintained that none of them was in a mood to go back to classes without seeing some concrete result on the ground. "In the last eight years, there has been no action, only words. We will not listen to any false assurances this time," said a student.

Mahesh Govil, the director of NIT Sikkim, had also tried to convince the students to attend classes, given that the Centre had agreed to expedite the process of setting up the permanent campus. "The director counselled the students to resume their classes as early as possible. This is a long weekend with Monday being a holiday. The students were told they must come back to their classes from Tuesday onwards. Avoiding classes will not result in anything. This will only hamper their studies," said a faculty member who was privy to the meeting.

NIT Sikkim was among the 10 NITs set up by the Centre by an Act of parliament in 2007.

From very early since its inception, the students have been demanding a permanent campus at a more hospitable location.