The gherao was lifted Wednesday morning after intervention of officials from the Hijli outpost located on campus. Students however, maintained that their protest would continue.
Protesting against the rise in semester fees, several officials of IIT-Kharagpur including the director, deputy director, dean, and registrar were gheraoed by students of the premier institution for about 15 hours.
The gherao was lifted Wednesday morning after intervention of officials from the Hijli outpost located on campus. Students however, maintained that their protest would continue.
On December 7, a notice was issued by the IIT administration saying that there would be a hike in the semester fees by about Rs 7550. “As a result, the expenses for research scholars and M Tech students would shoot up to Rs 37,000 from being a little over Rs 29,000 at present. We have to pay semester fees every six months,” said one of the protesters. He also alleged that faculty members have retorted to their protest saying that if they were so unhappy with the fee structure they should not have come to study at the IIT.
It was found out that a research scholar and an M Tech student get a stipend of Rs 25,000 and Rs 12,400, respectively.
A student said that given the stipend it was as it is very difficult to manage, especially for those who came from economically weak families. “In a recent development, the menu of the mess here has been generalised and we don’t get to choose what we eat and will have to eat off a set menu, and on top of that we have to pay Rs 90 daily for food,” said another protester. He also alleged that the fee hike was only for IIT-Kharagpur and no other IITs of the country have done so.
Students chanting slogans and holding placards demonstrated in front of the Director’s building yesterday at about 10pm, preventing officials from leaving.
Institute officials said that the fee hike was owing to the payment of salary to some of the institute employees. “The director and the registrar have talked to the students’ representatives this morning and it has been decided that the problem would be solved through a dialogue. Although the fee structure remains as it was according to the last notification, there is possibility of a restructuring after another round of meeting with the students’ representatives,” said a senior official of the institute.
Later, talking to DNA, registrar of the institution, Pradip Payne said that the protest was mainly against the rise in charges for the hostel and hostel mess. Maintaining that there was no police intervention he said,
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